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The FIFA World Cup is one of the most awaited tournaments for every football fan around the globe. The first competition for the cup was organized in 1930 by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and was won by Uruguay. The last World Cup was won by Germany in 2014.
The World Cup has a history of some amazing goal scorers, making it a platform honoured by numerous football icons. While Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi are the first names to come to our minds when we talk about top goal scorers of the current generation, they do not feature on the list of the top goal scorers of all time in the World Cup.
Now, with the next World Cup just around the corner, let us look at the top 5 leading goal scorers of all-time in the World Cup.
Note - Stats accurate as of February 28th, 2018
#5 Pele (Brazil)
Regarded as one of the best players of all time, Pele is at number five on this list. The Brazilian had scored 12 goals in the 14 World Cup games he took part in.
Pele started his professional career at Santos and spent the most of his career there. The Brazilian had scored 619 goals in 638 games for the 8 times Campeonato Brasileiro Série A champions.
He retired from professional football in 1974 but got back from his semi-retirement in 1975, and signed a contract with the American Club New York Cosmos. He scored 31 goals in 58 matches for the club before finally closing end to his career in 1977.
The former Santos forward, Pele took part in 4 World Cups, winning 3 of them. Notably, He is Brazil's all-time leading goalscorer with 77 goals scored in 92 games.
#4 Just Fontaine (France)
With 13 goals in just 6 games, the former French striker, Just Fontaine is at number 4 on this list. He holds the record of scoring most goals in a single World Cup (13 goals in the 1958 World Cup).
Just Fontaine started his career at USM Casablanca before joining Nice in 1953. He stayed at Nice for three seasons and scored 63 goals in 49 games. In 1956, Fontaine moved to Rennes where he won 3 French Division 1 titles. He was the league's top scorer in 1957-58 and 1959-60 seasons.
Just Fontaine had scored 30 goals in 21 caps for French National Team and was the top goal scorer at the 1958 FIFA World Cup.
#3 Gerd Muller (Germany)
Regarded as one of the greatest goalscorers of all time, Gerd Muller is at number three on this list. He had played 13 games in the World Cup, scoring 14 goals.
Gerd Muller started his career in 1861 at Nördlingen, where he scored 51 goals in just one season, breaking all records. Such impressive goal-scoring returns earned him a move to the German giants Bayern Munich, where he scored another record-breaking 398 Bundesliga goals in 453 games. Notably, he is the highest ever goalscorer in the Bundesliga history.
Two-time German Footballer of the Year, Gerd Muller played 62 games for Germany and scored an impressive tally of 68 goals.
#2 Ronaldo (Brazil)
At number two on this list is the former Brazilian striker, Ronaldo. He had appeared in 3 World Cups and scored 15 goals in 19 matches.
Three-time FIFA Player of the Year, Ronaldo started his career with Cruzeiro before moving to Europe with PSV in 1994. His impressive record in Eredivisie earned him a moved to Barcelona, where he scored 34 goals in 37 games. But due to the problems over his contract negotiations at Barcelona, he had to leave Barcelona after just one season.
He then moved to Inter Milan, where he won the FIFA Club Footballer of the Year award during the 1997-1998 season.
Ronaldo then moved to Real Madrid in 2002 and teamed up with Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo at the Bernabeu. He eventually won 2 La Liga titles during his time with Real Madrid.
Ronaldo scored 62 goals in 98 games for Brazil and was the Golden Boot winner in the 2006 World Cup.
#1 Miroslav Klose (Germany)
The former Germany and Bayern Munich legend, Miroslav Klose is at the top of this list. He scored 16 goals in the 24 games that he played in the World Cup.
Born in Poland, Miroslav Klose moved to Germany at the age of eight. He started his professional career at FC 08 Homburg.
After spending one year at the club, he moved to Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern, where he scored 44 league goals in 120 games. His impressive form gained him a move to Wender Bremen where he won the Bundesliga Top Scorer award in 2005- 2006.
Such good goal-scoring form caught the attention of Bayern Munich and Klose eventually moved to the Bavarian club in the summer transfer window of 2007. After spending 4 seasons at Bayern Munich he moved to Serie A club Lazio, where he finally hung his boots.
Miroslav Klose is the record-holding goalscorer for Germany and had scored 71 goals in 137 games for Germany.
