Argentina World Cup top scorers: Lionel Messi tops all-time rankings vs Diego Maradona, Gabriel Batistuta and stars

Toby Miles

Argentina World Cup top scorers: Lionel Messi tops all-time rankings vs Diego Maradona, Gabriel Batistuta and stars image

One of football's great heavyweight nations, Argentina has birthed some of the greatest attacking players of all-time.

Brazil had Pele, Portugal have Cristiano Ronaldo, but no other country can name two men that dominated their eras like Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona. 

Even without Messi or Maradona, Argentina have always possessed a dangerous goal threat, from the top scorer at the 1930 World Cup, Guillermo Stabile, to the present day. 

But which of Argentina's talented finishers scored the most goals? And who has scored the most on the biggest stage at the World Cup? 

MORE: Messi vs. Ronaldo at World Cup: Goals, stats, records

Argentina top scorer at World Cups

With his penalty-kick goal against the Netherlands in the 2022 World Cup quarterfinals, Lionel Messi tied Gabriel Batistuta for most World Cup goals by an Argentina player and he claimed the record all for himself with a semifinal penalty goal against Croatia.

He went on to score twice more in the Qatar 2022 final.

Batistuta reached double-digits in 12 matches across three tournaments (1994, 1998, 2002). 

Meanwhile, Messi's 13 career World Cup goals have come in double Batistuta's matches and across five World Cup tournaments (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022) though he went goal-less in 2010.

Pos. Player World Cup
goals
World Cup
matches
1. Lionel Messi 13 26
2. Gabriel Batistuta 10 12
3. Guillermo Stabile 8 4
  Diego Maradona 8 21
5. Mario Kempes 6 18
6. Gonzalo Higuain 5 14
7. Daniel Bertoni 4 11
  Claudio Caniggia 4 9
  Hernan Crespo 4 8
  Rene Houseman 4 12
  Leopoldo Luque 4 5
  Jorge Valdano 4 9

Who is Argentina's all-time top-scorer?

For a man who has broken hundreds of records across his career, it's no surprise that Lionel Messi leads Argentina's top-scorer charts. 

Messi has amassed 98 goals for his nation, the latest two coming in the final of the World Cup as he scored a double en route to Argentina's dramatic 4-2 penalty shootout win over France. Messi also netted in the shootout after the game had ended 3-3 following extra time.

The former Barcelona icon's relentlessness mean he dominates the list, dwarfing the record of some truly phenomenal players. 

Gabriel Batistuta amassed his 56 goals at a faster rate than Messi, but a spell out of the team in 1997 and his power fading at any earlier age than the current Argentina captain meant 'Batigol' couldn't build an even greater total. 

Sergio Aguero is in third-place on the list. The Manchester City great accumulated 42 goals in a century of appearances, although most of those came in international friendlies. 

List of Argentina's top scorers

Argentina have never lacked a goal-threat down the generations, but Messi rules them all by some margin. 

Pos. Player Goals
(World Cup)
Matches
1. Lionel Messi 98 (13) 172
2. Gabriel Batistuta 56 (10) 78
3. Sergio Aguero 42 (2) 100
4. Hernan Crespo 35 (4) 64
5. Diego Maradona 34 (8) 91
6. Gonzalo Higuain 31 (5) 75
7. Angel Di Maria 27 (2) 128

Where does Diego Maradona rank in Argentina history? 

Diego Maradona is still, to some, the greatest player to even grace a football pitch. The No.10 could do things that haven't been repeated, and perhaps never will be. 

But despite his mesmeric ability, Maradona 'only' managed 34 goals in 91 appearances for Argentina, enough for fifth on the all-time scorers list. 

Argentina Nigeria Maradona USA 1994
Shutterstock

MORE: Diego Maradona's Hand of God, the story of a legendary World Cup moment

Maradona was the driving force and defining image of the 1986 World Cup, which Argentina won.

He scored eight World Cup goals across his career, but statistics will never do Maradona justice. The great man's goals and unstoppable dribbling often overshadowed his passing ability, which was just as phenomenal. 

Toby Miles

Toby Miles Photo

Toby joined Sporting News in 2022 ahead of the World Cup, bringing previous sports writing experience at MailOnline and UEFA. An Englishman and Chelsea fan still fuming about Frank Lampard's 2010 ghost goal but never afraid to say 'It's Coming Home'.