2026 FIFA World Cup Golden Boot Race Tracker: Mbappé Goes Back-To-Back

Who'll win the Golden Boot at the 2026 FIFA World Cup? The race is on for who'll score the most goals at the tournament, and it is set to be one of the tournament's most closely watched storylines.

Several of the world's top forwards will be aiming to finish as the competition's leading goalscorer. Lionel Messi led the race through the group stages. Although Messi led through the majority of the knockout stage, Kylian Mbappé passed Messi with his goal in the third-place match against England and took over as the World Cup's all-time leading goalscorer.

Messi retook the Golden Boot lead with an equalizer when Argentina needed it most, to tie it 2-2 against Egypt in the late stages of the round of 16 before Argentina completed the comeback to move onto the quarterfinals. Mbappé caught back up with Messi in the second half against Morocco in their quarterfinal game when he found the net in the 60th minute. 

Mbappé claimed his first true lead of the tournament after his goals in the second half against England, amassing 10 total goals this tournament. As Mbappé takes the lead, Messi still leads in assists, which keeps him in the race for a Golden Boot. Mbappé took home his second consecutive Golden Boot award after his 10 goals, while Messi came up just short with eight. 

Check out our list of all the 2026 World Cup group-stage goals, ranked!

10 Goals

• Kylian Mbappé (France)

8 Goals

• Lionel Messi (Argentina)

7 Goals

• Jude Bellingham (England)

6 Goals

• Harry Kane (England)
• Ousmane Dembélé (France)

Last 5 Golden Boot Winners

• 2022 (Qatar): Kylian Mbappé (France) – 8 goals
• 2018 (Russia): Harry Kane (England) – 6 goals
• 2014 (Brazil): James Rodríguez (Colombia) – 6 goals
• 2010 (South Africa): Thomas Müller (Germany) – 5 goals
• 2006 (Germany): Miroslav Klose (Germany) – 5 goals

Lionel Messi Scores Goal vs Austria, Becoming Men's All-time FIFA World Cup™ Goalscoring Leader