The 2022 FIFA World Cup is officially underway in Qatar, and fans all around the globe are tuning in to watch the action. The final World Cup with 32 participating teams (the field will increase to 48 for the 2026 tournament), this one is sure to be a nail-biter, with France vying to defend its title.
Any sports tournament is bound to have confusing rules about which teams advance and which are eliminated, and the World Cup is no exception. Eight groups are assigned, with four teams per group. In order to advance to the knockout stage, each team plays a match against the other teams in its group; the top two teams with the most points from each group advance. A victory earns three points, a draw earns two, and a loss equals zero.
If the top two teams are tied in points, then the winner is whichever team has the higher goal differential – the difference between how many goals a team gave up vs. scored.
At the end of the day, no matter how confusing the points system is, the most important element of winning the World Cup is winning games – and you can’t win games without scoring goals. And over the course of the 21 World Cups played since its 1930 inaugural, some teams have scored a whole lot of goals. (Here’s a list of the best men’s national soccer teams of 2022.)
To compile a list of the World Cups with the most goals scored, 24/7 Tempo reviewed a report by consumer data site Statista. Information on games and Golden Boot winners came from FIFA, the governing body of international soccer. (These are the all-time top goal scorers at the World Cup.)
Click here to see the highest-scoring World Cup games of all time
21. Italy 1934
> Total goals scored: 70 (tie)
> Golden Boot winner: Oldrich Nejedly (Czechoslovakia)
> Goals Oldrich Nejedly scored in tournament: 5 in 4 matches
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20. Uruguay 1930
> Total goals scored: 70 (tie)
> Golden Boot winner: Guillermo Stabile (Argentina)
> Goals Guillermo Stabile scored in tournament: 8 in 4 matches
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19. France 1938
> Total goals scored: 84
> Golden Boot winner: Leonidas (Brazil)
> Goals Leonidas scored in tournament: 7 in 4 matches
18. Brazil 1950
> Total goals scored: 88
> Golden Boot winner: Ademir (Brazil)
> Goals Ademir scored in tournament: 8 in 6 matches
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17. England 1966
> Total goals scored: 89 (tie)
> Golden Boot winner: Eusebio (Portugal)
> Goals Eusebio scored in tournament: 9 in 6 matches
16. Chile 1962
> Total goals scored: 89 (tie)
> Golden Boot winners: Flórián Albert (Hungary), Valentin Ivanov (Soviet Union), Garrincha (Brazil), Vava (Brazil), Dražan Jerković (Yugoslavia), Leonel Sánchez (Chile)
> Goals each of them scored in tournament: 4
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15. Mexico 1970
> Total goals scored: 95
> Golden Boot winner: Gerd Müller (Germany)
> Goals Gerd Müller scored in tournament: 10 in 7 matches
14. Germany 1974
> Total goals scored: 97
> Golden Boot winner: Grzegorz Lato (Poland)
> Goals Grzegorz Lato scored in tournament: 7 in 7 matches
13. Argentina 1978
> Total goals scored: 102
> Golden Boot winner: Mario Kempes (Argentina)
> Goals Mario Kempes scored in tournament: 6 in 7 matches
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12. Italy 1990
> Total goals scored: 115
> Golden Boot winner: Salvatore Schillaci (Italy)
> Goals Salvatore Schillaci scored in tournament: 6 in 7 matches
11. Sweden 1958
> Total goals scored: 126
> Golden Boot winner: Just Fontaine (France)
> Goals Just Fontaine scored in tournament: 13 in 6 matches
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10. Mexico 1986
> Total goals scored: 132
> Golden Boot winner: Gary Lineker (England)
> Goals Gary Lineker scored in tournament: 6 in 5 matches
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9. Switzerland 1954
> Total goals scored: 140
> Golden Boot winner: Sándor Kocsis (Hungary)
> Goals Sándor Kocsis scored in tournament: 11 in 5 matches
8. USA 1994
> Total goals scored: 141
> Golden Boot winners: Oleg Salenko (Russia), Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria)
> Goals each of them scored in tournament: 6
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7. South Africa 2010
> Total goals scored: 143
> Golden Boot winner: Thomas Müller (Germany)
> Goals Thomas Müller scored in tournament: 5 in 6 matches
6. Spain 1982
> Total goals scored: 146
> Golden Boot winner: Paolo Rossi (Italy)
> Goals Paolo Rossi scored in tournament: 6 in 7 matches
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5. Germany 2006
> Total goals scored: 147
> Golden Boot winner: Miroslav Klose (Germany)
> Goals Miroslav Klose scored in tournament: 5 in 7 matches
4. South Korea / Japan 2002
> Total goals scored: 161
> Golden Boot winner: Ronaldo (Brazil)
> Goals Ronaldo scored in tournament: 8 in 7 matches
3. Russia 2018
> Total goals scored: 169
> Golden Boot winner: Harry Kane (England)
> Goals Harry Kane scored in tournament: 6 in 6 matches
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2. Brazil 2014
> Total goals scored: 171 (tied)
> Golden Boot winner: James Rodríguez (Colombia)
> Goals James Rodríguez scored in tournament: 6 in 5 matches
1. France 1998
> Total goals scored: 171 (tied)
> Golden Boot winner: Davor Šuker (Croatia)
> Goals Davor Šuker scored in tournament: 6 in 7 matches
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