Who is the all-time leading goalscorer at the World Cup Finals?

The all-time list of leading goalscorers at the World Cup Finals obviously contains some legendary names. Interestingly, though, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé, only comes in at number four. Of course, his record of 12 goals in 14 appearances, including a hat-trick in the semi-final against France, at the age of 17, in 1958 is still quite special.

Nonetheless, in terms of total goals scored, Pelé is overshadowed by French forward Just Fontaine, who scored 13 times in just six appearances, including two hat-tricks, all at the 1958 World Cup. Better still, though, was German Gerd Müller, who scored 14 goals in 12 appearances at the World Cup Final and was, for a long time, the all-time leading goalscorer.

However, in 2006, Müller was succeeded by the Brazilian Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima, or Ronaldo for short, who scored 15 goals in 19 appearances. Currently top of the list, though, is another German, Miroslav Klose, who was actually born in Poland, but moved to Germany to join his father, Josef, a German national, as a boy. In any event, Poland’s loss was Germany’s gain; Klose played at four consecutive World Cup finals, including in 2014, when Germany won and scored 16 goals in 24 appearances for his adopted country.