Haaland vs Mbappé at the Same Age: Who Was Better at 19, 21, 23 and 25?
Haaland vs Mbappé at the same age: club goals, international goals, Champions League and trophies lined up by age, from 17 to 26, using live data.
Every Haaland vs Mbappé debate runs into the same objection: Mbappé is about a year and a half older, so of course he has more goals, more caps and more trophies. The fair test is to compare them at the same age. This article lines up their careers season by season by age, from the teenage debuts to the current campaign, and asks who was ahead at 19, at 21, at 23 and at 25. Every figure comes from the same dataset as the season by season comparison and the Haaland vs Mbappé career stats page, and it updates automatically (data as of 2026-10-15).
How the ages are aligned
Mbappé was born on 20 December 1998, Haaland on 21 July 2000. We follow the method used on the season by season page: a player's age for a season is the season's starting year minus his birth year. Mbappé's 2018/19 is his age-20 season; Haaland's 2020/21 is his age-20 season. Norwegian seasons run from spring to autumn and are labelled by calendar year, so Haaland's 2018 with Molde and the half season he then spent at Salzburg in 2018/19 are both counted as his age-18 year.
One caveat runs in Mbappé's favour: his December birthday means he was among the youngest players in each of his age brackets, while Haaland's July birthday puts him in the middle. Bear that in mind when the margins are small. They often are not.
Club goals at the same age
| Age | Haaland season | Apps | Goals | Mbappé season | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | 2017 · Molde | 20 | 4 | 2015/16 · Monaco | 14 | 1 |
| 18 | 2018 · Molde + 2018/19 · Salzburg | 30 + 5 | 16 + 1 | 2016/17 · Monaco | 44 | 26 |
| 19 | 2019/20 · Salzburg/Dortmund | 40 | 44 | 2017/18 · Monaco/PSG | 46 | 21 |
| 20 | 2020/21 · Dortmund | 41 | 41 | 2018/19 · PSG | 43 | 39 |
| 21 | 2021/22 · Dortmund | 30 | 29 | 2019/20 · PSG | 37 | 30 |
| 22 | 2022/23 · Man City | 53 | 52 | 2020/21 · PSG | 47 | 42 |
| 23 | 2023/24 · Man City | 45 | 38 | 2021/22 · PSG | 46 | 39 |
| 24 | 2024/25 · Man City | 48 | 34 | 2022/23 · PSG | 43 | 41 |
| 25 | 2025/26 · Man City | 52 | 38 | 2023/24 · PSG | 48 | 44 |
| 26 | 2026/27 · Man City (in progress) | 9 | 10 | 2024/25 · Real Madrid | 59 | 44 |
Count the completed age-seasons from 17 to 25 and Mbappé wins five of the nine, Haaland four. Mbappé was better at 18, 21, 23, 24 and 25. Haaland was better at 17, 19, 20 and 22. That looks like a narrow Mbappé win. The cumulative totals say something different.
The running total: who had more goals at each age?
| Through the age-… season | Haaland club goals | Mbappé club goals | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | 21 | 27 | Mbappé |
| 19 | 65 | 48 | Haaland |
| 20 | 106 | 87 | Haaland |
| 21 | 135 | 117 | Haaland |
| 22 | 187 | 159 | Haaland |
| 23 | 225 | 198 | Haaland |
| 24 | 259 | 239 | Haaland |
| 25 | 297 | 283 | Haaland |
Mbappé led at 18, when he had already scored 26 goals in a title-winning Monaco season while Haaland was scoring 16 for Molde. Then came Haaland's age-19 season: 44 goals in 40 games split between Salzburg and Dortmund, against Mbappé's 21 in his first PSG year. That single season swung the running total by more than 20 goals, and Haaland has been ahead at every age since.
The gap peaked at 28 goals after the age-22 seasons (Haaland's 52-goal treble year against Mbappé's 42 at PSG) and has narrowed every year since, because Mbappé's mid-twenties were more prolific than Haaland's. At 25 the difference is down to 14 goals: 297 to 283. Per game it is almost nothing. Through the age-25 season Haaland had played 380 club matches and Mbappé 368, which works out at 0.78 and 0.77 goals per game respectively. For the career-wide version of that comparison, see goals per game and the games per goal page.
Age 26: the season that is being decided now
Haaland is playing his age-26 season right now, and he has 10 goals in 9 club games so far. Mbappé's age-26 season was his first at Real Madrid, 2024/25: 44 goals in 59 games, a Pichichi and a European Golden Shoe. That took Mbappé to 327 club goals through age 26.
So the target is clear. Haaland needs 30 club goals in 2026/27 to match Mbappé's running total at the same age, and 44 to match his season. He has reached 30 in every full season since he was 19 except the injury-hit 2021/22, so the first is likely. The second would require a return to his 2022/23 level.
International goals at the same age
Club football is only half the argument. Internationally the age comparison is starker, using calendar year minus birth year, which is how caps are recorded.
| Age | Haaland (Norway) | Mbappé (France) |
|---|---|---|
| 19 | 0 goals in 2 caps (2019) | 1 goal in 10 caps (2017) |
| 20 | 6 in 5 (2020) | 9 in 18 (2018, World Cup winner) |
| 21 | 6 in 8 (2021) | 3 in 6 (2019) |
| 22 | 9 in 8 (2022) | 3 in 5 (2020) |
| 23 | 6 in 6 (2023) | 8 in 14 (2021) |
| 24 | 11 in 10 (2024) | 12 in 13 (2022, World Cup Golden Boot) |
| 25 | 17 in 9 (2025) | 10 in 9 (2023) |
| 26 | 10 in 11 (2026, World Cup quarter-finals) | 2 in 11 (2024) |
Through the age-25 year, Haaland had 55 international goals in 48 caps; Mbappé had 46 in 75. Haaland reached 50 international goals in 46 caps, the fastest of the 21st century; Mbappé reached his 50th in June 2025, aged 26. Norway's fixture list is a factor. Haaland's tally includes 16 goals in one World Cup qualifying campaign against opponents such as Moldova, while Mbappé's caps at the same age came in World Cup and Euro knockout rounds, Nations League finals and a World Cup final.
Which brings up the thing the goal counts cannot show. At 19 Mbappé had won a World Cup and been named its best young player. At 24 he had scored a hat-trick in a World Cup final and won the Golden Boot. Haaland played his first World Cup at 25, scored 7 goals in 5 games and took Norway to a first ever quarter-final, which is a fine tournament but not a comparable one. The international stats page has the full breakdown.
Champions League at the same age
Both players were Champions League regulars from their teens, and here Haaland's early explosion is even more pronounced than in the league.
Through the age-25 season, Haaland had scored 57 Champions League goals in 58 appearances. Mbappé, through his age-25 season (2023/24), had 48 in 73. Haaland set the records for the fastest 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 goals in the competition and had won it, with the 2022/23 treble, at 22. Mbappé's Champions League peak came later: 15 goals in 2025/26 at age 27, the second-highest single-season total in the competition's history. The Champions League stats page compares their full records.
Trophies and awards at the same age
| By the end of the age-25 season | Haaland | Mbappé |
|---|---|---|
| Major team trophies | 11 | 18 |
| League titles | 3 | 7 |
| Champions League | 1 | 0 |
| World Cup | 0 | 1 |
| Ballon d'Or best finish | 2nd (2023, aged 23) | 3rd (2023, aged 24) |
Mbappé's trophy count at the same age is higher, and the seven league titles are real, but six of them came in a Ligue 1 that PSG dominated. The two most prestigious prizes split one each: Mbappé's World Cup at 19, Haaland's Champions League at 22. On individual recognition the two were closest at 23 and 24, when they finished second and third behind Lionel Messi in the 2023 Ballon d'Or. Full lists are on the trophies and awards page.
Verdict: who was better at the same age?
- At 18: Mbappé, clearly. A Ligue 1 title, a Champions League semi-final and 26 goals against Haaland's 16 in Norway.
- At 19 and 20: Haaland, clearly. His 44 and 41-goal seasons at Salzburg and Dortmund put him 19 goals ahead in the running total, a lead he has never surrendered. Mbappé's answer is a World Cup winner's medal.
- At 21 to 25: Mbappé scored more in four of the five seasons, and won more silverware, but never caught up. Haaland's Champions League and Ballon d'Or runner-up finish at 22 and 23 match anything Mbappé had done at the same age for his club.
- Cumulative through 25: Haaland 297 club goals, Mbappé 283. Internationally Haaland 55 to 46, in far fewer caps.
The age-adjusted answer is that Haaland has been the more prolific scorer at every age from 19 onwards, in club football and for his country. Mbappé has been the more decorated player at every age, and his seasons from 23 to 26 were the better individual campaigns. The gap in goals is narrowing, not widening, and the 2026/27 season will show whether Haaland can hold his lead at 26 against a 44-goal benchmark. For the full picture, see the season by season comparison and the career stats page.
