Lionel Messi Becomes World Cup’s All-Time Leading Scorer

Lionel Messi moved to the top of the World Cup all-time scoring list on Monday night, June 22, 2026, after scoring Argentina’s second goal against Austria. He missed a penalty earlier in the match, but finished a fine move in the 39th minute to reach 17 career World Cup goals and pass Germany’s Miroslav Klose, who had 16.

The article notes that Messi, 39, had already scored a hat trick in 79 minutes in Argentina’s opening match against Algeria. With this latest goal, he also strengthened his standing as the tournament’s all-time appearance leader, and this is his sixth World Cup, which is likely to be his last.

The current scoring leaderboard now reads: Messi with 17, Klose with 16, Brazil’s Ronaldo with 15, Gerd Muller with 14, France’s Kylian Mbappe with 14, France’s Just Fontaine with 13, and Brazil’s Pele with 12. The piece says it is unusual for two players in the same tournament to be competing for the all-time World Cup scoring crown.

Since 1958, only three players have held the top spot: Muller in 1974, Ronaldo in 2006, and Klose in 2014. Mbappe, 28, is in his third World Cup and still has time to add to his total, while Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar are the closest active players to the top names, each with 8 World Cup goals. If either scores at least twice, they could enter the all-time top 10 to 15.