This Wednesday he passed away at the age of 89 Just Fontaine, legendary French striker who holds one of those records in sports history that seems unparalleled. In fact, his mark of 13 goals was scored in a single world is valid from Sweden in 1958 and few came even close. Below is the ranking of the footballers who scored the most ‘targets’ in a single world championship.
1
13 goals
Just Fontaine
The French striker achieved 13 ‘goals’, actually scoring in all the matches of the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. The French team finished third in that championship and Fontaine was then playing for another mythical team at the time, Stade de Reims.
2
11 goals
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The former FC Barcelona striker who has died in Barcelona aged 49, achieved those 11 goals in Switzerland in 1954, a World Cup where Hungary wowed the world with its football and finished runners-up after losing the final against Germany. Kocsis was playing for Honved at the time.
3
10 goals
Gerd Müller
Known as ‘Torpedo’ and who died in 2021 at the age of 75, he was one of the great scorers for Bayern Munich, a club where he won three consecutive European Cups, and for Federal Germany. It was in Mexico 1970 when he scored ten goals. His team finished third after losing to Italy in the semifinals and beating Uruguay for third and fourth place.
4
9 goals
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The legendary Portuguese striker of Mozambican origin scored nine goals in the 1966 World Cup in England, where his team finished third. Died in 2014 at the age of 71, he was a legend of Benfica, the club with which he won the European Cup in 1962.
5
8 goals
Stábile, Ademir, Ronaldo and Mbappé
Argentine Guillermo Stábile scored eight goals in the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay. Ademir did it with Brazil in the 1950 World Cup, which was played in his country. His compatriot Ronaldo achieved it between South Korea and Japan in 2002, while Frenchman Kylian Mbappé achieved it in the recent game in Qatar, in 2022.
6
7 goals
Leonidas, Jairzinho, Lato and Messi
Brazilian Leónidas da Silva was the top scorer at the 1938 World Cup in France with seven goals, while his compatriot Jairzinho was second with the same figure at Mexico 1970, behind Gerd Müller. Polish Grzegorz Lato also scored seven in Germany 1974, leading the scoring table. Finally, Leo Messi also made that number in Qatar 2022, although he was surpassed by Kylian Mbappé.
7
6 goals
17 players
Gyula Zsengellér (Hungary) scored six goals in France 1938; Josef Hugi (Switzerland), Erich Probst (Austria) and Max Morlock (Federal Germany) in Switzerland 1954; Pelé (Brazil) and Helmut Rahn (Federal Germany) in Sweden 1958; Helmut Haller (Federal Germany) in England 1966; Andrzej Szarmach (Poland) in Germany 1974; Mario Alberto Kempes (Argentina) in Argentina 1978: Paolo Rossi (Italy) in Spain 1982; Gary Lineker (England) in Mexico 1986; Salvatore Schillaci (Italy) in Italy 1990; Oleg Salenko (Russia) and Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria) in the United States 1994; Davor Suker (Croatia) in France 1998; James Rodríguez (Colombia) in Brazil 2014; Harry Kane (England) in Russia 2018.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
