Julián Quiñones closes in on Chicharito’s World Cup record
‘El Matador’, together with ‘Chicharito’, are the highest-scoring Mexicans at World Cups.
Mexico, despite being a regular participant at the FIFA World Cup, has a modest goalscoring record in the tournament. Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernández and Luis ‘Matador’ Hernández, two of the country’s most iconic footballers, are Mexico’s joint all-time leading scorers at the World Cup, with four goals each.
Modest as that tally may seem, the ‘Matador’ scored all four of his goals in a single tournament, despite appearing at two World Cups, while ‘Chicharito’ spread his across the three editions he played. Now, however, both are being closely chased by Julián Quiñones, the Mexico international born in Magüí Payán, Colombia.
At 29, and nearly three years after completing his naturalisation process, Quiñones is playing in his first World Cup at the peak of his career. After establishing himself as one of Liga MX’s standout players, he moved to the Saudi Pro League, where he finished the 2025/26 season as the league’s top scorer, ahead of high-profile names such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema.
His outstanding club form has quickly carried over to the international stage. Quiñones scored in Mexico’s tournament opener against South Africa on 11 June, found the net again against the Czech Republic a few days later, and has earned the complete trust of coach ‘Vasco’ Aguirre, starting all three of Mexico’s matches so far.
With those two goals, he has already moved within touching distance of the Hernández duo’s World Cup scoring record. He also has the chance to match the ‘Matador’ by scoring all of his World Cup goals in a single edition. Whether he will still be part of Mexico’s squad for the 2030 tournament, when he will be 33, remains uncertain.
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