The 2026 World Cup is now in the history books. Spain finished as champions with Argentina as runners-up, while England and France finished third and fourth, respectively.
Today, however, we’ll be looking at the five best strikers over the course of the competition. With over 308 goals having been scored, this was an excellent tournament for centre-forwards.
Before we get into our top five, we’d like to take a look at a few honourable mentions. There were plenty to choose from – some of which were desperately unlucky to not make the list.
First of all, Belgium’s Charles De Ketelaere put in an excellent showing for two reasons. He scored three goals and notched up a single assist in five games – secondly, he did this whilst not being a natural striker.
Argentina’s Latauro Martinez certainly deserves a mention. Most of his appearances came from the bench, but he made the most of them, scoring three goals and registering one assist.
Lastly, we must give a shout-out to Mikel Oyarzabal. Spain’s frontman scored five goals and notched up a solitary assist amidst their World Cup winning campaign.
Previously, we have taken a look at the other best positions at the World Cup, including goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders and wingers.
5. Deniz Undav
Picking between Oyarzabal and Deniz Undav was difficult, but we sided with the former Brighton man on account of his fantastic goals-to-games ratio.
Scoring three goals and racking up a pair of assists in four appearances, most of which came from the bench, Undav was a highly-effective striker for Germany during their ill-fated World Cup campaign.
At the age of 30, Undav is certainly a late bloomer, but not many can say they made the most of their minutes as well as he did at the tournament.
4. Harry Kane
We’re a little surprised ourselves to see Harry Kane only taking the the number four spot. This is not a criticism – it should stand as a testament as to how well the three players above him did.
Kane had an excellent start to the 2026 World Cup, racking up six goals and an assist in his first five games, but failed to add to his tally in the two games that followed.
For this reason, Kane was left off the podium. Nevertheless, he deserves plenty of credit for helping England achieve their best World Cup finish since 1966.
3. Erling Haaland
Manchester City superstar Erling Haaland was very keen to make his mark at the World Cup and he did just that. Norway’s strength of schedule was tough, but Haaland did everything in his power to drag them to the quarter-finals.
Scoring seven goals in five games, he was one of very few players who scored more goals than the number of games that he played in.
It is frightening to think that Haaland isn’t even in his prime yet. At 26 years of age, he is certainly getting there, but we’d suggest that the best is yet to come from him.
2. Lionel Messi
The greatest footballer of all time sadly only takes the number two slot on our list. If he’d had a better game in the final, we’re sure he would have taken the top spot, but here we are.
It has been quite a while since Lionel Messi has played as a centre-forward, but he certainly enjoyed his free role alongside Julian Alvarez.
Despite now being 39 years of age, Messi rolled back the years to score eight goals and rack up four assists in eight games. Absolutely astonishing.
1. Kylian Mbappe
Messi might be the best player of all time, but Kylian Mbappe solidified his status as the best player in the world at this current moment at the World Cup.
The Real Madrid man scored an eye-watering ten goals in eight games, alongside four assists. France might have failed to win the trophy that they were expected to, but Mbappe cannot be faulted for his contributions.
Following the tournament, Mbappe is now the highest-scoring World Cup player of all time with 22 goals – we expect him to hold onto this record for some time.