Four of football’s most dangerous forwards are turning the 2026 World Cup into something prediction markets and fan token traders haven’t seen before. Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland, and Harry Kane are all within striking distance of Just Fontaine’s 13-goal record, set during the 1958 World Cup, and the crypto world is paying very close attention.
By the quarterfinal stage, Messi, Mbappé, and Haaland have each netted 7 goals. Kane sits one behind at 6. Fontaine’s record has stood for 68 years.
The record that refused to die
Fontaine scored 13 goals in just 6 matches at the 1958 tournament in Sweden. That’s a rate of more than two goals per game.
The expanded 48-team format gives these players more matches to work with. More games means more opportunities, which means the math is at least plausible even if the remaining fixtures make actually reaching 13 a serious challenge.
