Mbappe Surpasses Messi to Become World Cup's All-Time Leading Scorer

Miami: France captain Kylian Mbappe has etched his name in World Cup history by overtaking Lionel Messi to become the tournament's highest overall scorer. The milestone came despite France's 6-4 defeat to England in the FIFA World Cup 2026 third-place play-off.

Heading into the tournament, both Mbappe and Messi were chasing the long-standing record held by Germany's Miroslav Klose. While Messi had earlier surpassed Klose's tally of 16 goals, Mbappe has now climbed to the top with an extraordinary 22 goals in just 22 World Cup appearances.

Messi began his record-breaking campaign with a hat-trick against Algeria before adding crucial goals against Austria, Jordan, Cabo Verde and Egypt to become the tournament's all-time leading scorer. However, Mbappe's remarkable consistency eventually saw him move ahead.

The French forward entered the 2026 edition with 12 World Cup goals from Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022. He has since added 10 more in North America, including braces against Senegal, Iraq, Sweden and England, along with goals against Paraguay and Morocco.

Mbappe's double in the bronze-medal match also strengthened his grip on the Golden Boot race. He now leads the scoring chart with 10 goals in the ongoing tournament, two ahead of Messi.

Only two players in World Cup history have scored more goals in a single edition than Mbappe's tally of 10—Hungary's Sandor Kocsis, who netted 11 goals in 1954, and France's Just Fontaine, whose record 13 goals in 1958 remains unmatched.

With another record to his name, Mbappe has further cemented his place among football's greatest World Cup performers.

With inputs from IANS