The World Cup is expanding to 48 teams this summer, which means more games. More games should mean more goals, right? Maybe not for one guy chasing history.
Thirteen goals in a single tournament. That’s what Just Fontaine did in 1958, and nobody has touched it since. Not Mbappe. Not Messi. Not even R9 in his prime. Fontaine played seven games for France that summer and scored in every single one. Hat trick against Paraguay. A brace against Yugoslavia. Two more against Northern Ireland in the quarterfinals. Then four goals in the third-place match against West Germany, which honestly feels like stat-padding even if it was technically part of the tournament.
Fontaine only ever played one World Cup. Never appeared in another. Which makes the record even weirder. He showed up, scored 13 times, and dipped out of international soccer forever. The man played club ball for Nice and Reims. Not exactly a global icon. But his name sits atop a list that includes Pele, Gerd Muller, and Ronaldo.
Sandor Kocsis scored 11 for Hungary in 1954. Same tournament as Fontaine basically. Hat trick on debut against South Korea. Four against West Germany in the group stage. Then braces against Brazil and Uruguay in the knockout rounds. He went silent in the final though. West Germany got revenge for that 8-3 group stage beatdown and took the trophy. Kocsis never played another World Cup either. That generation of Hungarian soccer was something else.
Gerd Muller scored 10 in 1970. The man was 24 and already had 200 Bayern Munich goals to his name. He scored on his World Cup debut against Morocco. Then hat tricks against Bulgaria and Peru in consecutive games. Then the extra-time winner that knocked England out in the quarterfinals. He scored against Italy in the semifinals but West Germany lost. Muller came back in 1974 and scored four more, eventually overtaking Fontaine as the all-time World Cup scorer. That record stood until 2006.
Ademir scored nine for Brazil in 1950. Only World Cup he ever played in. Four goals against Sweden. Two against Mexico. He also assisted the only goal in that infamous 2-1 loss to Uruguay that basically served as the final. The Maracanazo. Brazil didn’t play a final match that year. The tournament ended in a round-robin group stage.
Eusebio also scored nine for Portugal in 1966. Same ratio as Ademir. He didn’t score in his first game but assisted one. Then one against Bulgaria. Two against Brazil. Four against North Korea in the quarterfinals. One against England in the semis. Then Portugal won the third-place match 2-1 and Eusebio scored the opener. Portugal’s Golden Generation before the current one.
Guillermo Stabile scored eight for Argentina in 1930. The first World Cup ever played. He only earned four caps for Argentina total. Scored in all four. Hat trick against France. Brace against Chile. Brace against the USA in the semis. Then a goal in the final loss to Uruguay. He later managed Argentina at the 1958 World Cup. They went out in the group stage.
Ronaldo scored eight for Brazil in 2002 and he’s the only guy on this list who actually won the World Cup in the same tournament. He had that nightmare in 1998 with the seizure before the final. Then in 2002 he scored against everyone except England in the quarterfinals. Turkey, China, Costa Rica, Belgium, and Turkey again in the semis. Then two goals in the final against Germany. That haircut was terrible but the performance was legendary.
Mbappe scored eight in 2022 and he still lost the final. Hat trick against Argentina in the title match. Two against Poland. Two against Denmark. One against Australia. He was crying on the field after the penalty shootout while holding the Golden Boot. That photo is going to follow him forever. Messi won and Mbappe got the award that nobody cares about on the losing side.
The record feels safe. It’s been 68 years. But if anyone’s going to threaten it, Mbappe is probably the guy. He’s 27 now. He’ll have at least two more World Cups. The tournament is expanding. The math is getting better for him every cycle.
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