Who is the all-time top scorer in FIFA World Cup history?

The all-time top scorer in FIFA World Cup history is Miroslav Klose, with 16 goals.

Klose scored those goals across four World Cup tournaments for Germany: 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014. He began with five goals at the 2002 tournament, added another five on home soil in 2006, scored four in South Africa in 2010, and finished with two in Brazil in 2014.

His record-breaking moment came during Germany’s 7–1 semi-final victory over Brazil in 2014. Klose scored Germany’s second goal, taking his World Cup total to 16 and moving past Brazil’s Ronaldo, who had scored 15. Klose’s final World Cup goal remains the tournament record.

The record is sometimes confused with overall international scoring. Klose scored 71 goals for Germany, but that is a national-team record rather than a World Cup-finals record. Pelé scored 12 World Cup goals, while Gerd Müller scored 14.