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The biggest FIFA World Cup in history means there are more national records up for grabs on soccer's grandest stage than ever before.

Modern fitness and recovery techniques mean stars such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric are back at the 2026 tournament ready to compete at a time when their predecessors would probably have retired.

Each of those players holds their country's all-time appearance record. Messi and Ronaldo are Argentina and Portugal's respective all-time top goalscorers, while Ronaldo has scored more international goals than any other international player in history.

As the table below demonstrates, plenty of the all-time leading scorers from the countries at this World Cup are still active players, while other greats of the past are vulnerable to being passed by the stars of today.

MORE: Ranking the 11 greatest FIFA World Cup tournaments by an individual player

Top goal-scorers for every World Cup team

Goals and caps correct as of June 10, 2026.

*Denotes playing at the 2026 FIFA World Cup

The most likely entrant to this list during the 2026 World Cup is Kylian Mbappe, who is one behind France's all-time top scorer Olivier Giroud on 56 goals.

Mbappe is also the joint-sixth top scorer of all time at World Cups, level with the great Pele on 12 goals.

Mohamed Salah and Son Heung-min have carried the Egypt and South Korea national teams their backs during their incredible careers. Each man is two shy of their country's all-time record goalscorer.

Egypt's Hossam Hassan is Salah's head coach at the 2026 World Cup.

MORE WORLD CUP NEWS:

Dom Farrell

Dom is a senior content producer. He previously worked as fan brands editor for Manchester City at Reach Plc. Prior to that, he built more than a decade of experience in the sports journalism industry, primarily for the Stats Perform and Press Association news agencies. Dom has covered major football events on location, including the entirety of Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in Paris and St Petersburg respectively, along with numerous high-profile Premier League, Champions League and England international matches. Cricket and boxing are his other major sporting passions and he has covered the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, Gennadiy Golovkin and Vasyl Lomachenko live from ringside.

Source: Sporting News