Before the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America, one of the most anticipated storylines was the race to break Germany striker Miroslav Klose’s all-time World Cup goalscoring record.

Klose never allowed himself to be bigger than the game.

From 1930 to 2022, a total of 2,720 goals have been scored in 964 matches across 22 editions of the FIFA World Cup. Yet among those thousands of strikes, some are far more than mere statistics – they are enduring stories etched into football folklore.