Kylian Mbappe stays close to Lionel Messi in all-time World Cup goals, tying Ronaldo Nazario

Immediately after Lionel Messi broke Miroslav Klose’s World Cup goals record, Kylian Mbappe reminded everyone he is still a force to be reckoned with in the 2026 World Cup.

Before a quarter of an hour had been played in France‘s game against Iraq in Philadelphia, the French star unleashed a rocket of a shot to open the scoring and raise his all-time goal tally in World Cups. During Mbappe’s 100th cap for France, the French star reached 15 goals in FIFA World Cups, moving level with Ronaldo Nazario and breathing right down Klose’s neck, who has 16 and recently saw Messi surpass him and break his record.

The message sent is clear: if Messi rests on his laurels, Mbappe will move past him. The race for the all-time record is on, and both Messi and Mbappe are fully engaged in an arms race for which Argentina and France can only be grateful.

All-time World Cup goals leaders

As things stand, Messi is the all-time leader, while Mbappe is tied for third all-time and ranks second among active players. If counting retired players, Messi is first with 18 goals, Klose second with 16, and Nazario and Mbappe are tied for third with 15.

Ronaldo Nazario of Brazil.

Among current players, Messi still holds the lead, while Mbappe is second and Harry Kane sits third with 10 World Cup goals. Messi may have little time to settle into his throne, as a Frenchman is mounting a serious challenge with every goal he scores.

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Miroslav Klose calls Lionel Messi ‘best of all time’ after losing World Cup record to Argentina star

Messi and Mbappe stay red hot

Perhaps the heat across the United States, Mexico, and Canada is helping them out, but Messi and Mbappe are in red-hot form to start the 2026 World Cup. Messi leads the race for the Golden Boot with five goals in two games, scoring at an impossible to match rate. However, Mbappe isn’t staying too far behind. With three goals—and counting—he is right on Messi’s tail.

Mbappe is the defending Golden Boot winner, thanks to his eight-goal total in the 2022 World Cup, which left Messi as runner-up with seven goals. Four years later, the two are right back at it. This time, it’s Messi who holds the lead, but it could very well go down to the wire.

In fact, in 2022, Mbappe won the Golden Boot thanks to his hat trick in the final, in which Messi scored a brace. Messi and Argentina ended up winning the World Cup, though, so they had the last laugh.

The Golden Boot “curse”

Perhaps missing out on the Golden Boot is the price to pay to win the most coveted team trophy in international soccer. In fact, only three times in FIFA World Cup history has the leading goalscorer belonged to the nation that hoisted the trophy (Garrincha and Vava for Brazil in 1962, Paolo Rossi for Italy in 1982, and Ronaldo Nazario for Brazil in 2002).

There is an asterisk to that rule, as David Villa finished tied for the most goals in 2010 when Spain were crowned champions, but he lost the Golden Boot to Thomas Muller because assists served as the tiebreaker.