Who has won the most FIFA World Cups as a player? List of most successful winners in history

Winning a FIFA World Cup is the ultimate prize for any professional footballer, and some have been lucky enough to do it more than once.

Of the 445 players who have been on a winning team, only 21 players have won two or more World Cups, and one player stands above the rest.

The Sporting News take a lot at the most successful players in FIFA World Cup history. 

MORE: Which country has won the most World Cups?

Which player has won the most World Cups?

The legendary Pelé is the only player to have won three World Cups, winning his first in the 1958 edition in Sweden as a 17 year-old in a tournament where he took the world by storm.

He also won four years later in Chile, though he missed the final through injury.

After failing to win in 1966, Pelé and Brazil waltzed to further glory in Mexico in 1970 as they routed Italy 4-1 in the final. Their 1970 team is viewed as one of the greatest World Cup teams of all time.

Which players have won multiple World Cups?

Some 20 other players have the distinction of winning more than one World Cup, with all but one of them being Brazilian or Italian.

This includes Brazilian legends Cafu and Ronaldo, who were a part of the victorious Brazil squads of 1994 and 2002.

The 2002 tournament in Japan and South Korea was one of Ronaldo’s finest as a player, scoring eight goals including both goals in a 2-0 win over Germany in the final.

Other notable players in this category are Daniel Passarella, who captained Argentina to victory on home soil in 1978 and was part of the squad that won in Mexico in 1986.

Brazil’s Garrincha played a key role in winning back-to-back World Cups in 1958 and 1962, as did Giuseppe Meazza for Italy in 1934 and 1938.

Three players also have the distinction of winning multiple tournaments without actually having played a game.

Castilho and Pepe achieved this with Brazil in 1958 and 1962, whilst Guido Masetti also went unused in Italy’s victories in 1934 and 1938.

Here is a full list of the players who have won the World Cup more than once: 

Who was won the most World Cup games?

The player who was won the most games at the World Cup is Germany’s Miroslav Klose.

Beginning in 2002 when he was part of the team that finished runners-up, he has won 17 matches over four tournaments.

In each of these, Germany finished in the top four and had their crowning glory in 2014 when they defeated Argentina 1-0 in the final at the famous Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro

It’s also not the only World Cup record that Klose holds.

Who has scored the most World Cup goals?

Klose also holds the record for the most goals scored at a World Cup, having scored 16 times.

He scored five goals in 2002 – all from headers – including a hat-trick against Saudi Arabia.

He netted a further five in 2006 and four in 2010, which took him level with Gerd Muller’s German World Cup scoring record.

At the 2014 tournament in Brazil, a goal in the group stages against Ghana meant he was tied for the all-time record with Brazil’s Ronaldo on 15 goals.

It was a record he beat in the semi-final, fittingly against Brazil, as he scored the second goal in a 7-1 thrashing of Brazil, which remains one of the most remarkable World Cup games in history.

#OnThisDay five year ago, Miroslav Klose scored his record-breaking 16th FIFA #WorldCup goal in @DFB_Team_EN‘s 7-1 semi-final win over Brazil pic.twitter.com/1v8DMoa1AT

— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) July 8, 2019