The Great Goalscorers Dominate the World Cup Scoring Chart
The first knockout round of the 2026 World Cup is now complete, and we have seen both high drama and matches where the difference in quality between the teams has been clear. It is also becoming increasingly clear that this is the World Cup of the great goalscorers. Of all the six players we listed as favorites before the World Cup, Ronaldo is the one who has scored the fewest goals, even though he is already up to three.In this article, we skip over the results from the round of 32 and focus solely on the goalscorers and the top of the scoring chart after the four matches per team now played, for the teams that advanced from the group stage, that is.
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Kylian Mbappé is chasing Lionel Messi at the top of the scoring chart
The Great Goalscorers at the Top of the Scoring Chart
When looking at the scoring chart after the round of 32, our pre-World Cup list almost looks like a prediction come true. We will therefore start by going through the six players we listed there, before then moving on to the other players near the top.Lionel Messi and Argentina faced Cape Verde in their round of 32 match, and Messi had scored six goals before the game. Cape Verde produced the biggest shock of the group stage when they kept Spain scoreless and earned a 0-0 result, before then drawing their two remaining matches as well. Despite being unbeaten, most people expected this to be a comfortable win for Argentina against the small island nation, and the stage was set for Messi to score, perhaps more than once. He did score too, putting Argentina 1-0 up in the 29th minute after a wonderful touch and a precise shot into the roof of the net. Cape Verde shocked Argentina by equalizing in the second half, which was enough to take the match to extra time. It became a dramatic extra time, with Argentina first taking the lead before Cape Verde equalized with one of the most beautiful goals of the World Cup, but an own goal in the 111th minute, in the second half of extra time, saved Argentina from a penalty shootout. With Messi's opening goal in the match, he is now up to 7 goals in total, and he is the only player to have scored in all of his matches.
France had a field day against Sweden, and their 3-0 win was, if anything, on the low side. Sweden had major problems defending against France's extremely strong attacking players, and not unexpectedly, it was Kylian Mbappé who caused them the most trouble. He also scored two of France's three goals. On both occasions, he showed off his undisputed pace and technique, and it is precisely the combination of those two qualities that means we can probably count on more goals from him. He is unlikely to stop at the six goals he has scored so far.
Norway had to fight hard to beat Ivory Coast, and Erling Haaland did not have one of his better matches. But he is perhaps the world's most clinical striker. When he gets his chance, he rarely misses, and that is exactly what happened in the 86th minute. His 2-1 goal proved decisive, and he is now up to five goals in total.
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Spain had a slightly tricky round of 32 match against Austria, a team that perhaps was not expected to be strong enough to trouble the Spaniards in the end, but still not a team you normally just sweep aside. That, however, is exactly what Spain did. They had full control of the match from start to finish, and the 3-0 result was a little flattering to Austria. Before the World Cup, Mikel Oyarzabal was expected to score most of Spain's goals, and he also scored two of their goals in this match. With his two goals against Saudi Arabia from the group stage, he is now up to four goals in the tournament so far.
We finish with Cristiano Ronaldo. Before Portugal's round of 32 match against Croatia, he had scored two goals, both in Portugal's comfortable win against Uzbekistan in the group stage. The match itself became drama of the highest order, with disallowed goals, a questionable penalty and a stoppage-time drama that almost felt made up. Portugal won the match 2-1 after Goncalo Ramos scored in stoppage time, but in the thirteenth minute of stoppage time Croatia equalized. That goal was, however, ruled out after a long VAR review. With the help of the sensor in the ball, it was finally possible to see what was almost impossible to detect with the naked eye: a Croatian player had touched the ball with his head in the build-up, creating an offside situation. And Ronaldo? He scored Portugal's 1-1 goal from the penalty spot, from a penalty that was very harshly awarded, but perhaps still correct. With that penalty goal, Ronaldo is up to three goals.
Ousmane Dembélé is one of the players who has scored four goals
Other Players Near the Top of the Scoring Chart
We have already gone through the very top of the scoring chart, but in addition to Oyarzabal, there are three more players who have scored four goals.Those players are France's Ousmane Dembélé, Brazil's Vinícius Júnior and Senegal's Ismaïla Sarr. Sarr is out of the tournament after Senegal were knocked out by Belgium in yet another highly dramatic match, where Belgium decided it with a penalty in stoppage time in the second half of extra time. Dembélé and Vinícius Júnior are both still in the tournament, however, and are of course still part of the race for the Golden Boot.
We then have a whole bunch of players on three goals, although many of them have already been knocked out. It is doubtful whether any of them could seriously challenge for the scoring title, but players worth mentioning among them are Mexico's Julián Quiñones, Morocco's Ismael Saibari, Brazil's Matheus Cunha and Switzerland's Johan Manzambi. Manzambi is probably the player who has had the biggest breakthrough in this tournament. The 20-year-old has, in addition to his three goals, also set up two goals, despite starting the first two group-stage matches on the bench and coming on as a substitute in the second halves.
The Battle to Become the Greatest Goalscorer in World Cup History
Before this World Cup, Miroslav Klose was alone at the top among the greatest World Cup goalscorers of all time with 16 goals in total. He has now been passed by both Messi and Mbappé, on 20 and 18 goals respectively. We also have Harry Kane a little further behind on 13 goals, and further back still, but nevertheless inside the top 10, we find Cristiano Ronaldo on 11 goals.This is the current top list, but bear in mind that all four of the players mentioned are still in the tournament and may have up to four more matches to play:
| 1. | Lionel Messi, Argentina | 20 goals |
| 2. | Kylian Mbappé, France | 18 goals |
| 3. | Miroslav Klose, Germany | 16 goals |
| 4. | Ronaldo, Brazil | 15 goals |
| 5. | Gerd Müller, West Germany | 14 goals |
| 6. | Harry Kane, England Just Fontaine, France | 13 goals |
| 8. | Pelé, Brazil | 12 goals |
| 9. | Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal Jürgen Klinsmann, Germany Sándor Kocsis, Hungary | 11 goals |