The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men’s national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA, the International Federation of Association Football), the sport’s global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War.
The format involves a qualification phase, which takes place over the preceding three years, to determine which teams qualify for the tournament phase. In the tournament phase, 32 teams compete for the title at venues within the host nation(s) over about a month. The host nation(s) automatically qualify. The World Cup is the most prestigious association football tournament in the world, as well as the most widely viewed and followed single sporting event in the world.
Here are the top 20 FIFA World Cup goalscorers of all time.
| Rank | Name | Country | Goals |
| 1. | Miroslav Klose | Germany | 16 |
| 2. | Ronaldo | Brazil | 15 |
| 3. | Gerd Müller | West Germany | 14 |
| 4. | Just Fontaine | France | 13 |
| 5. | Lionel Messi | Argentina | 13 |
| 6. | Pelé | Brazil | 12 |
| 7. | Kylian Mbappé | France | 12 |
| 8. | Sándor Kocsis | Hungary | 11 |
| 9. | Jürgen Klinsmann | West Germany | 11 |
| 10. | Helmut Rahn | West Germany | 10 |
| 11. | Gary Lineker | England | 10 |
| 12. | Gabriel Batistuta | Argentina | 10 |
| 13. | Teófilo Cubillas | Peru | 10 |
| 14. | Thomas Müller | Germany | 10 |
| 15. | Grzegorz Lato | Poland | 10 |
| 16. | Ademir | Brazil | 9 |
| 17. | Eusébio | Portugal | 9 |
| 18. | Christian Vieri | Italy | 9 |
| 19. | Vavá | Brazil | 9 |
| 20. | David Villa | Spain | 9 |
| Paolo Rossi | Italy | 9 | |
| Jairzinho | Brazil | 9 | |
| Roberto Baggio | Italy | 9 | |
| Karl-Heinz Rummenigge | West Germany | 9 | |
| Uwe Seeler | West Germany | 9 |
