Ronaldo, Messi, Suarez: Who's scored the most official World Cup goals?

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·20 October 2022

Ronaldo, Messi, Suarez: Who's scored the most official World Cup goals?

When it comes to international football, Cristiano Ronaldo is an absolute phenomenon.

The Manchester United superstar first broke into the Portugal senior team way back in 2003 and he’s now made 191 appearances (and counting) for the European nation.

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And in those games, Ronaldo has scored a whopping 117 goals, more than any other male footballer on the international stage.

The closest player to the five-time Ballon d'Or winner in that regard is Iranian icon Ali Daei, who finished his career on 109 goals.

As well as sitting top of the tree in terms of goals overall in international football, Ronaldo is clear of the chasing pack when it comes to successful strikes in official World Cup games.

Now you're probably thinking; isn't that record held by Miroslav Klose? When it comes to goals at World Cup tournaments, the answer to that question is most certainly 'yes'.

But when you also factor in qualifying matches for the sporting showpiece, Ronaldo takes the gold medal.

The International Federation of Football History & Statistics have provided all the key numbers, which can be viewed below...

The 15 players with the most goals in official World Cup games

15. Carlos Pavon (Honduras) - 25 goals (25 in qualifying, 0 at tournaments)

14. Jared Borgetti (Mexico) - 25 goals (23 in qualifying, 0 at tournaments)

13. Ronaldo Nazario (Brazil) - 25 goals (10 in qualifying, 15 at tournaments)

12. Edin Dzeko (Bosnia & Herzegovina) (25 in qualifying, 1 at tournaments)

11. Kazuyoshi Miura (Japan) - 27 goals (27 in qualifying, 0 at tournaments)

10. Karim Bagheri (Iran) - 28 goals (28 in qualifying, 0 at tournaments)

9. Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine) - 28 goals (26 in qualifying, 2 at tournaments)

8. Miroslav Klose (German) - 29 goals (13 in qualifying, 16 at tournaments)

7. Robert Lewandowski (Poland) - 30 goals (30 in qualifying, 0 at tournaments)

6. Tim Cahill (Australia) - 30 goals (25 in qualifying, 5 at tournaments)

5. Lionel Messi (Argentina) - 34 goals (28 in qualifying, 6 in tournaments)

4. Ali Daei (Iran) - 36 goals (36 in qualifying, 0 at tournaments)

3. Luis Suarez (Uruguay) - 36 goals (29 in qualifying, 7 at tournaments)

2. Carlos Ruiz (Guatemala) - 39 goals (39 in qualifying, 0 at tournaments)

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) - 43 goals (36 in qualifying, 7 at tournaments)

So, Ronaldo is the first player to surpass 40 goals in official World Cup matches, another historic achievement by a truly unique sportsman.

Both Suarez and Messi are in with a shot of reaching that milestone in Qatar, though.

The former needs just four goals, while the in-form latter requires six - and the way he's played in an Argentina shirt over the past two years, that number is far from out of the realms of possibility.