THE LOWDOWN — THE FULL HISTORY
THE RECORD
In 1958 Just Fontaine scored 13 goals for France at a single World Cup, in six games. Sixty-eight years later, nobody has equalled it.
THE CHASERS OF HISTORY
Sándor Kocsis scored 11 for Hungary in 1954. Gerd Müller scored 10 in 1970 and the winner in the 1974 final. Ronaldo scored eight in 2002, two of them in the final. Miroslav Klose quietly reached 16 World Cup goals, a career record that stood for twelve years.
THE NEW GENERATION
Kylian Mbappé has 19 World Cup goals, second all-time. Erling Haaland is at his first World Cup, at 28. Lionel Messi passed Klose in 2026 to become the World Cup's all-time leading scorer.
THE 2026 RACE
At the time of the film, Messi led the Golden Boot race on eight, with Mbappé and Haaland on seven, and Kane, Oyarzabal, Dembélé and Yamal behind. Fontaine's 13 still stood in the distance. Who writes their name next?
MORE FROM WORLD CUP 2026
THE TERRACES — DISCUSSION
The argument also lives in the YouTube comments ↗.