Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé are still setting the pace among international soccer's top scorers, and as of September 27, both remain their countries' all-time leading marksmen. Haaland has scored 64 goals in 56 senior appearances for Norway, while Mbappé has 67 in 107 for France. Neither shows any sign of slowing down.
Haaland's most recent milestone came on September 24, when his brace helped Norway beat Denmark 3-2 in the UEFA Nations League, with his winning goal pushing his tally to 64. A day later, Mbappé scored the only goal in France's 1-0 win over Türkiye, netting in the 54th minute of what was his 107th international appearance.
Haaland's rise to the top of Norway's charts
Haaland became Norway's all-time leading men's scorer on October 10, 2024, when his two goals against Slovenia took him past Jørgen Juve's long-standing record of 33. He reached 51 goals in 46 appearances after a hat trick against Israel in October 2025, and his tally now stands at 64 in 56 matches, a rate of roughly 1.14 goals per game.
His World Cup qualifying campaign was especially prolific. Haaland scored 16 goals across qualifying, matching the European record for a single campaign, including one in a 3-0 home win over Italy in June 2025 and two in a 4-1 away win that November that sealed Norway's qualification. He added seven more at the 2026 World Cup itself, with two goals apiece against Iraq, Senegal and Brazil as Norway reached the quarterfinals before losing to England.
Mbappé's record-breaking World Cup run
Mbappé passed Olivier Giroud's former French scoring record of 57 goals during the World Cup in June, and he's since pushed his total on to 67. He also finished the tournament as the leading scorer in World Cup history, with 22 goals across the 2018, 2022 and 2026 editions combined, four, eight and ten respectively, having won the Golden Boot in the last two tournaments. That run took him past both Miroslav Klose's previous record of 16 World Cup goals and Lionel Messi's 2026 total of 21.
Different paths to the milestones
The two strikers have got there in very different ways. Haaland's scoring rate of about 1.14 goals per game comfortably outpaces Mbappé's 0.63, and he reached 50 international goals in just 46 appearances, against Israel in October 2025 at age 25, despite missing a penalty and its retake in that same match. Mbappé needed 90 appearances to hit his 50th, scoring it against Germany in June 2025 at age 26. Mbappé has simply played far more for France, 51 more matches than Haaland has for Norway, which helps explain the gap in their scoring averages even as their overall totals sit close together.
Prolific form for club as well as country
Both have carried that form into their clubs too. During a 20-match stretch early in the 2025-26 season, Haaland scored 32 goals for Manchester City and Norway combined, an average of 1.6 per appearance. Mbappé, meanwhile, scored 42 goals in 44 matches for Real Madrid in 2025-26, adding six assists, with 12 of those goals coming from the penalty spot. Those Madrid numbers sit separately from his international tally.
Earnings and what's next
Off the pitch, Forbes estimated Mbappé's earnings over the 12 months leading into the 2026 World Cup at $95 million, split between $70 million on the field and $25 million off it. Haaland's estimate for the same period was $80 million, made up of $60 million on the field and $20 million off it. Haaland signed a long-term Manchester City contract extension in January 2025 that runs through the summer of 2034.
Looking ahead, Haaland sits 36 goals short of 100 for Norway; at his current scoring rate, that could take roughly 32 more appearances. Mbappé needs 33 more for France, which at his pace would likely require around 53 further caps. Both remain well behind Cristiano Ronaldo's men's international record of 146 goals for Portugal, but with time still on their side, neither total looks finished growing.
