Mbappé joins 400 goal club - Where does France striker rank among youngest and quickest?

Can Haaland catch him? 

Kylian Mbappé made history on Thursday night during France’s comfortable 4-0 win over Ukraine in their latest European qualifier for the 2026 World Cup. After scoring from the penalty spot just after the break, the Real Madrid striker then scored a second goal seven minutes from full time, when he slotted home a rebound inside the box to make it 3-0 to his national team. France would bag a fourth goal before the end of the match, but the history books will note Mbappé’s second strike as the most significant moment of the match as it put the 26-year-old striker on 400 career goals for club and country. And in the process, it made the French talent the youngest ever player to reach such a milestone.

The youngest players to reach 400 career goals

Having now scored 55 goals for the national team, alongside 256 goals for Paris Saint-Germain, 27 goals for Monaco and 62 goals for Real Madrid, Mbappé has now scored 400 goals at senior level by the age of 26 years, 10 months and 24 days. The previous record was held by former Germany and Bayern Munich legend Gerd Müller, who reached 400 senior goals by the age of 27 years, two months and 17 days - meaning that Mbappé beat the record by an impressive 113 days. In third place is none other than Lionel Messi, whose goals for Barcelona, PSG and Argentina saw him reach that milestone at 27 years, three months and three days. As the graphic below indicates, Cristiano Ronaldo sits sixth on the list having joined the 400-goal club just before his 29th birthday, while Brazilian star Neymar reached it just before his 30th birthday.

A second German star makes the top 10 in the form of former HSV striker Uwe Seeler, who reached 400 goals just nine days after his 28th birthday, while two English players also make the top 10 in the form of Jimmy Greaves (28 years, one month and 17 days) and Bayern star striker Harry Kane (30 years, eight months and 30 days). The rest of the top 10 is made up of Poland international Robert Lewandowski, who reached 400 senior goals for his national team, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern at the age of 30 years, six months and 16 days, putting him just ahead of tenth-placed Luis Suárez, who makes the listing after bagging his 400th senior goal at the age of 31 years and one month exactly.

The quickest players to reach 400 career goals

When we then take a look at which players scored 400 goals in the fewest games, Mbappé tumbles down the rankings to seventh place, having played 537 games for his multiple clubs and the France national team before reaching the milestone. However, it’s worth noting that his goalscoring record is still remarkable and puts him above Neymar (653 games), Ronaldo (653 games), Lewandowski (632 games) and Kane (631 games). Just about the French striker in sixth place is Brazilian legend Romário, who scored 400 career goals in 533 games for a number of impressive clubs, including Barcelona and Fluminense.

In this regard the French striker falls short of Messi, who sits fifth in the list having scored 400 career goals in 525 games for club and country. The Argentine is bested by English striker Greaves (524 games), German duo Muller (403 games) and Seeler (387 games). However, it seems as though no one can come close to former Rapid Vienna striker Franz Binder, who curiously played for both Austria and Germany. Over the course of his career he bagged 400 goals in just 316 career games, making him the most impressive player of all time in this respect.

Could Erling Haaland beat Mbappé’s new record?

So could any other current player break into the top 10 anytime soon? To no great surprise, Manchester City and Norway striker Erling Haaland is currently on track to do exactly that. With 331 goals in 374 games for club and country, the towering striker is averaging 0.89 goals per game in his career. Which means he’ll likely hit the 400 goal milestone in 452 games - which would place him fourth on the above top 10 table. At the time of publishing, Haaland was 25 years, 0 months and 24 days old, which means the Norwegian talent has 664 days to score the remaining 69 career goals and beat Mbappé to the very record he set on Thursday night.