Best European scorers in a single edition of World Cup qualification
Erling Haaland made a brilliant 2026 World Cup campaign not only regarding the final stage but also in qualification where he equaled the competition’s all-time European record (16 goals).
Only Robert Lewandowski, in the 2018 edition, was as high-scoring. The Pole has played 10 matches in his prolific edition, while the Norwegian only 8. Therefore, Haaland now ranks first in the all-time chart of best European one-edition scorers in the World Cup qualification.
Among players from other confederations, only Karim Bagheri has scored more: 19 goals for Iran in the 1998 campaign.
| WORLD CUP | QUALIFICATION | EUROPE | |||
| MOST GOALS | IN ONE EDITION | ||||
| Player | Country | Goals | Edition | Games | |
| 1 | Erling Haaland | Norway | 16 | 2026 | 8 |
| 2 | Robert Lewandowski | Poland | 16 | 2018 | 10 |
| 3 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Portugal | 15 | 2018 | 9 |
| 4 | Predrag Mijatović | Serbia and Montenegro | 14 | 1998 | 12 |
| 5 | Harry Kane | England | 12 | 2022 | 8 |
| 6 | Memphis Depay | Netherlands | 12 | 2022 | 10 |
| 7 | Romelu Lukaku | Belgium | 11 | 2018 | 8 |
| 8 | Robin van Persie | Netherlands | 11 | 2014 | 9 |
| 9 | Pauleta | Portugal | 11 | 2006 | 12 |
| 10 | Christian Eriksen | Denmark | 11 | 2018 | 12 |
| 11 | Theofanis Gekas | Greece | 10 | 2010 | 10 |
| 12 | Edin Džeko | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 10 | 2014 | 10 |
| 13 | Andriy Shevchenko | Ukraine | 10 | 2002 | 12 |