The 2022 World Cup has come to an end with Argentina lifting football’s greatest prize after beating France on penalties.
This tournament has been full of shocks and sublime football and it ended with Lionel Messi winning the World Cup for the first time in his career.
Messi will only care about the astonishing achievement but he also broke a record by appearing in the final in Qatar.
Who has scored the most World Cup goals in history?
German legend Miroslav Klose is the record World Cup goalscorer.
Klose has scored 16 goals in the competition with his record-breaking goal coming against Brazil in 2014.
He netted in Germany’s 7-1 battering of the World Cup hosts eight years ago in the semi-final.
The striker sits above Brazilian icon Ronaldo, who has a tally of 15 goals in 19 games, and Gerd Muller, who scored 14 in only 13 appearances.
But Messi was sublime for Argentina during the World Cup and scored seven goals, moving his total tally to 13.
He is La Albiceleste’s record World Cup goalscorer and moved above legend Pele by scoring a brace in the final.
While Kylian Mbappe is already on 12 goals, with a hat-trick in the final moving him to joint-fifth in the all-time standings.
Record World Cup goalscorers
- Miroslav Klose (Germany) – 16 goals
- Ronaldo (Brazil) – 15 goals
- Gerd Muller (Germany) – 14 goals
- Lionel Messi (Argentina) – 13 goals
- Just Fontaine (France) – 13 goals
- Kylian Mbappe (France) – 12 goals
- Pele (Brazil) – 12 goals
- Jurgen Klinsmann (Germany) – 11 goals
- Sandor Kocsis (Hungary) – 11 goals
- Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina) – 10 goals
- Teofilo Cubillas (Peru) – 10 goals
- Grzegorz Lato (Poland) – 10 goals
- Gary Lineker (England) – 10 goals
- Thomas Muller (Germany) – 10 goals
- Helmut Rahn (Germany) – 10 goals
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Who has made the most World Cup appearances?
Lionel Messi became the all-time highest appearance maker in the World Cup after winning the tournament in 2022.
By playing in the final, Messi made his 26th appearance and overtook German legend Lothar Matthaus.
The midfielder appeared 25 times over five different tournaments, taking part in the 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, and 1998 World Cups.
But now the Argentina icon has leapfrogged him as he cemented himself as one of the greatest ever footballers in Qatar.
Record World Cup appearances
- Lionel Messi (Argentina) – 26 matches
- Lothar Matthaus (Germany) – 25 matches
- Miroslav Klose (Germany) – 24 matches
- Paolo Maldini (Italy) – 23 matches
- Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) – 22 matches
- Diego Maradona (Argentina) -21 matches
- Uwe Seeler (Germany) – 21 matches
- Wladyslaw Zmuda (Poland) – 21 matches
- Cafu (Brazil) – 20 matches
- Philipp Lahm (Germany) – 20 matches