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The 2026 World Cup will be remembered as an edition where the stars came out to play.
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Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland and more have lit up North America enchanting fans both new and old, while setting up one of the most exciting Golden Boot races in the tournament’s 96-year history.
With two more opportunities for the leading contenders to add to their totals, a potentially record-breaking contest will go down to the wire.
What Is the Golden Boot Award?
The World Cup Golden Boot goes to the tournament’s top goal scorer. Unlike the media-voted Golden Ball, this one is purely a numbers game: most goals wins. In modern editions, assists has served as the tiebreaker if scorers are level.
Historic recipients include Just Fontaine, whose 13 goals at the 1958 tournament for France remain a single-edition record, along with icons Gerd Müller, Ronaldo, Miroslav Klose, and Mbappé-the 2022 winner with eight goals.
No player has ever won the Boot twice, while Messi is yet to claim the award.
Every FIFA World Cup Golden Boot Winner in History
| Year | Golden Boot Winner | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 1930 | Guillermo Stábile (Argentina) | 8 |
| 1934 | Oldřich Nejedlý (Czechoslovakia) | 5 |
| 1938 | Leônidas (Brazil) | 7 |
| 1950 | Ademir (Brazil) | 9 |
| 1954 | Sándor Kocsis (Hungary) | 11 |
| 1958 | Just Fontaine (France) | 13 |
| 1962 | Flórián Albert (Hungary)
Valentin Ivanov (Soviet Union) Garrincha (Brazil) Vavá (Brazil) Dražan Jerković (Yugoslavia) Leonel Sánchez (Chile) |
4 |
| 1966 | Eusébio (Portugal) | 9 |
| 1970 | Gerd Müller (West Germany) | 10 |
| 1974 | Grzegorz Lato (Poland) | 7 |
| 1978 | Mario Kempes (Argentina) | 6 |
| 1982 | Paolo Rossi (Italy) | 6 |
| 1986 | Gary Lineker (England) | 6 |
| 1990 | Salvatore Schillaci (Italy) | 6 |
| 1994 | Oleg Salenko (Russia)
Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria) |
6 |
| 1998 | Davor Šuker (Croatia) | 6 |
| 2002 | Ronaldo (Brazil) | 8 |
| 2006 | Miroslav Klose (Germany) | 5 |
| 2010 | Thomas Müller (Germany) | 5 |
| 2014 | James Rodríguez (Colombia) | 6 |
| 2018 | Harry Kane (England) | 6 |
| 2022 | Kylian Mbappé | 8 |
The Top Contenders to Win the Golden Boot-Ranked
On only five previous occasions has a player required more than eight goals to take home the Golden Boot trophy, and never before have there been two or more players with that total.
With Messi and Mbappé already tied on eight, with two games to play, this is one of the highest-scoring scoring races in tournament history.
Here’s a rundown of the top contenders still in the mix to be handed the prize upon the tournament’s conclusion on July 19.
Note: Erling Haaland’s seven goals rank him third currently, but as Norway has been eliminated and he will not play any more games, there is no chance he will surpass the leaders to claim the trophy.
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6. Mikel Oyarzabal
Goals: 4
Assists: 1
Four in six games is a respectable total for Spain’s primary threat, but Mikel Oyarzabal has not enjoyed the volume of some of his top competitors.
Overall, Spain has scored just 11 goals all World Cup, the lowest of any of the semifinalists, and Oyarzabal has actually only scored in two of his country’s six games-bagging braces against both Saudi Arabia and Austria.
A couple of (very) big displays in the next two games could still shoot him up the rankings, but it’s difficult to envisage Oyarzabal hoisting the Golden Boot aloft at this point.
5. Ousmane Dembélé
Goals: 5
Assists: 2
The current Ballon d’Or holder already has enough goals to have won the award on four previous occasions, but this 2026 edition of the World Cup is anything but normal.
Three of Ousmane Dembélé’s five strikes came in the Group I clash with a second-string Norway, and he has largely played second fiddle to Kylian Mbappé this summer. Still, he can’t be discounted.
4. Harry Kane
Goals: 6
Assists: 1
Only the second Englishman ever to win a World Cup Golden Boot (after Gary Lineker), Harry Kane is hoping to become the first player of any nationality to win the award twice.
The quarterfinal win over Norway was only the second time that the Bayern Munich front man has blanked at this tournament, but it has left him trailing the frontrunners with only two more opportunities to add to his tally.
3. Jude Bellingham
Goals: 6
Assists: 1
With his match-winning double against Norway, Bellingham became the first player to score twice in consecutive World Cup knockout matches since Diego Maradona in 1986. Some company.
Despite having the same goals and assists as Kane, England’s No.10 leads his teammate in the rankings by virtue of having played fewer minutes.
2. Lionel Messi
Goals: 8
Assists: 2
Anyone who thought Messi’s 2022 World Cup displays were impossible to top has been proven very wrong, as the 39-year-old continues to defy age in a way that will surely be piquing the interest of several Silicon Valley billionaires.
This summer, Messi has also become both the all-time leading World Cup goalscorer (21) and assist maker (10).
1. Kylian Mbappé
Goals: 8
Assists: 3
Right behind Messi in the all-time charts is Mbappé (20) and it’s hard not to imagine the Frenchman claiming top spot at some point, either this summer or further down the road.
Mbappé has been irresistible in North America, scoring at least once in every match he’s played-bar the Norway game when he bagged two assists to give him the edge over Messi in the standings.
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This story was originally published July 14, 2026 at 6:00 AM.