With five goals each, two giants from different generations share the top ranking of the Belgian team in the World Cup
When it comes to the ball in the net on the sport’s biggest stage, Marc Wilmots e Romelu Lukaku share the position of Belgium’s top scorer in World Cup history. Both scored exactly five goals with the “Red Devils” shirt in the tournament. While the former Wilmots midfielder built his brand between the 1998 and 2002 editions, center forward Lukaku reached the same number after decisive performances in the 2014 and 2018 World Cups.
The top scorers’ journey to the top of the podium
The legendary Marc Wilmots was the first to establish the isolated brand. A player with physical imposition and great positioning, he found the net twice in the France World Cup (1998). Four years later, he took on the team’s offensive role and scored on three occasions in the South Korea and Japan (2002). The feat is impressive for its efficiency: it only took eight games to score five goals.
Wilmots’ brand remained untouchable for more than a decade, until it was equaled by the star of the so-called “Great Belgian Generation”. The attacker Romelu Lukaku began his personal count in the round of 16 of the 2014 Cup, not Brazil. In the next cycle, in the Russia in 2018the number 9 had an overwhelming performance: he scored four goals in a rowfundamental to the unprecedented achievement of third place in the tournament.
Historical ranking: Red Devils’ top scorers
The country’s general list of goalscorers in world cups is made up of cerebral midfielders, legendary captains and natural finishers. Below, the top 4 absolute statistics:
1. Marc Wilmots and Romelu Lukaku (5 goals)
The leaders of official statistics. While Wilmots ended his career with the national team more than two decades ago, Lukaku achieved his five goals by appearing in three different editions of the tournament (although he missed out in 2022).
3. Jan Ceulemans (4 goals)
Known as “Captain Courage”, the midfielder played in the 1982, 1986 and 1990 World Cups. The peak of his career with the Belgian shirt took place in the Mexico in 1986where he scored three vital goals (including the famous minnow goal against Spain) to take the country to fourth place in the competition. The fourth and final goal came in 1990, in Italy.
4. Eden Hazard, Enzo Scifo, Nico Claesen e Leopold Anoul (3 goals)
Fourth place is a quadruple tie. The tip Eden Hazard secured his three goals leading the team in the excellent 2018 campaign. Enzo Scifo and the attacker Nico Claesen shone in the 1986 and 1990 editions, and Leopold Anoul he wrote his name in history in the first years of the competition.
Who can break the record in the next editions
Looking at the reality of the team and the competition for 2026 World Cupbreaking the record is in the hands and feet of a single athlete: Romelu Lukaku. As he is the country’s top scorer, the center forward only needs one more goal to leave Marc Wilmots behind and isolate himself at the top.
Other current names, such as the stars Kevin De Bruyne e Michy Batshuayiappear well below in the table, which takes immediate pressure off the record.
The requirement to score multiple times in the biggest sporting showcase on the planet reinforces the difficulty of this brand. To reach five goals in World Cups It is a certificate of regularity that consolidates the names of these athletes in the definitive pantheon of Belgian sport.
