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A look back at the top goalscorers in FIFA World Cup history, filled with some football legends.
Updated on May 18, 2026
Scoring goals at the World Cup remains one of the most eagerly awaited moments in football, and when it arrives on 11 June, some of the best strikers will get the chance to add their names to the tournament’s defining goals.
The player with the most goals by July 19 will walk away with the Golden Boot award and find themselves among the game’s greatest stars.
Here is a list of Golden Boot winners over the years:
- 1930: Guillermo Stabile (Argentina) – eight goals
- 1934: Oldrich Nejedly (Czech Republic) – five goals
- 1938: Leonidas (Brazil) – seven goals
- 1950: Ademir (Brazil) – eight goals
- 1954: Sandor Kocsis (Hungary) – 11 goals
- 1958: Just Fontaine (France) – 13 goals
- 1962: Florian Albert (Hungary), Valentin Ivanov (Soviet Union), Garrincha (Brazil), Vava (Brazil), Leonel Sanchez (Chile), Drazan Jerkovoch (Yugoslavia)
- 1966: Eusebio (Portugal) – nine goals
- 1970: Gerd Muller (Germany) – 10 goals
- 1974: Grzegorz Lato (Poland) – seven goals
- 1978: Mario Kempes (Argentina) – six goals
- 1982: Paolo Rossi (Italy) – six goals
- 1986: Gary Lineker (England) – six goals
- 1990: Salvatore Schillaci (Italy) – six goals
- 1994: Oleg Salenko (Russia), Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria) – six goals
- 1998: Davor Suker (Croatia) – six goals
- 2002: Ronaldo (Brazil) – eight goals
- 2006: Miroslav Klose (Germany) – five goals
- 2010: Thomas Muller (Germany) – five goals
- 2014: James Rodríguez (Colombia) – six goals
- 2018: Harry Kane (England) – six goals
- 2022: Kylian Mbappe (France) – eight goals
