Kylian Mbappe has done what no player in World Cup history has ever done before. He has scored eight or more goals at two different editions of the tournament.
With his goal against Morocco in Thursday's quarterfinal at Gillette Stadium in Boston, Mbappé became the first player in the history of the FIFA World Cup to score eight or more goals at two different editions of the tournament. Nobody, not Pele, not Maradona, not Ronaldo, not even Messi had ever done it before.
Mbappé scored eight goals at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, winning the Golden Boot despite France losing the final to Argentina on penalties. He has now gone past eight at the 2026 edition too, with his goal against Morocco taking his tally to eight in this tournament alone, giving him 20 World Cup goals across his career in just 20 appearances.
The only player ahead of him on the all-time World Cup scoring charts is Lionel Messi , who leads with 21 goals. But while Messi achieved his tally across six World Cups spanning two decades, Mbappé has reached 19 in just three tournaments, at the ages of 19, 23 and 27.
The numbers get more staggering the deeper you look. Mbappé has now scored in nine consecutive World Cup matches, a run that stretches back to the 2022 group stage. He is the only player in history to score three or more goals in the knockout stage at three separate World Cups. And at 27, he has at minimum two more World Cups ahead of him.
The record he broke on Thursday night previously stood as a shared benchmark as no player had ever reached eight goals at more than one World Cup. Gerd Muller scored ten in 1970 and four in 1974. Ronaldo scored eight in 2002 and three in 1998. Messi scored seven in 2022 and in this year's edition and five in 2014. Only Mbappé has now crossed the eight-goal mark twice.
France face Spain or Belgium in the semifinal in Dallas on Tuesday. Mbappé, who was substituted in the 77th minute against Morocco, is expected to be fit and ready.
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