As Lionel Messi goes level with Miroslav Klose as the FIFA World Cup's all time top goalscorer, we take a look at how the top goalscorer charts will look in a few years
On Tuesday night, Lionel Messi scored the first hat-trick of the 2026 FIFA World Cup as defending champions Argentina took down Algeria 3-0 in Group J.
You may be surprised to hear that it is only the eighth hat-trick at the tournament since 2002, after Gonzalo Higuain (2010), Thomas Muller and Xherdan Shaqiri (2014), Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Kane (2018), as well as Goncalo Ramos and Kylian Mbappe (2022).
However, it feels like we will start to see them more frequently now. Erling Haaland scored two goals against Iraq and on another day, would have had at least three. Likewise with Kai Havertz against Curacao. The expanded format means more opportunities against weaker sides. Plus, an extra round altogether.
This treble from Messi took him level with Miroslav Klose as the World Cup’s all time top goalscorer on 16 World Cup goals. It’s unlikely to last too long though, with Kylian Mbappe set to go past it this year. In fact, he may stand alone as the record goalscorer once France have played Iraq this coming Monday.
It feels like the Frenchman has at least two more World Cups in him after this one, so he could obliterate the record and set a tally that may well never be matched again. But at the same time, we could see a number of players go above Klose, who had 12 years on his own as the top scorer.
For example, Haaland could feasibly get to five in this edition, and he probably has two more in him. All it takes is another opponent like Iraq or even worse in 2030 and 2034 for him to get close. Especially with the level of service in this Norway team.
Just Fontaine of France was the fourth time top goalscorer for a long long time, with 13 goals, and he played just one tournament, six games. If Norway reach just the quarter finals, Haaland will have played the same amount of games. Though 13 goals would be highly unlikely, even for him. It shows that scoring that many is certainly not out of reach for him though.
Even more to the point, Sandor Kocsis of Hungary scored 11 goals in just five games. You’d have played that many times by the round of 16 this year. Gabriel Batistuta scored 10 times in 12 games. Mbappe had already played in 14 games by the age of just 23. And even then, as Haaland is proving, you can still be a late bloomer in terms of your World Cup debut and make up for lost time straight away.
Since 2014, Klose has been number one with 16. For 12 years, Ronaldo Nazario was number two with 15, and he was the number one for eight years. By 2034 it is very possible that neither of those players are even in the top 3.
In terms of any players outside of these three - nobody immediately leaps off the page in truth. Julian Alvarez scored four goals in 2022, and could probably end up playing in four finals. If he matches that tally each time, he will have as many as Klose. He could well be on penalties in the post Messi era too. The 26-year old did not get off the mark against Algeria, however.
But with there being at least 48 teams for the foreseeable future - and possibly even 64, as has been discussed by FIFA - then it feels like all it takes is two solid tournaments, so possibly someone more niche pops up towards the top end of the goalscorers.
