At the 2026 World Cup, group-stage play has met its end. That means that high-stakes soccer is now upon World Cup viewers.
In this year’s tournament so far, the top of the goalscoring charts features some of the world’s best. For the second year in a row, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe are in the top two thus far, although Erling Haaland is right in the mix.
Here are the players at the top of this World Cup’s chart so far as the leading scorers.
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World Cup Golden Boot rankings 2026 Rankings updated as of July 15
Rank Player Team Goals
(Penalties) Assists Matches 1. Kylian Mbappe France 10 (1) 3 8 = Lionel Messi Argentina 8 (0) 2 7 3. Erling Haaland Norway 7 (0) 0 6 4. Jude Bellingham England 7 (0) 1 8 = Harry Kane England 6 (2) 1 8 = Ousmane Dembele France 6 (0) 2 7 6. Mikel Oyarzabal Spain 5 (1) 1 7 8. Vinicius Junior Brazil 4 (0) 1 5 = Julian Quinones Mexico 4 (0) 1 5 = Ismaila Sarr Senegal 4 (0) 1 4 Odds to win 2026 World Cup Golden Boot The winners of the previous two World Cup Golden Boots led the pre-tournament betting in 2026, with France star Kylian Mbappe the marginal favorite ahead of England captain Harry Kane with DraftKings Sportsbook.
Norway is not expected to go as deep into the tournament as France or England, but Erling Haaland’s remarkable record of 55 goals in 50 internationals means it would be no surprise to see him in a familiar position at the top of the standings.
Haaland and Mikel Oyarzabal, who is expected to start as Spain’s central attacker, are ahead of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the betting as the veteran superstars compete in their sixth World Cups.
Player Country DraftKings Sportsbook Kylian Mbappe France +330 Lionel Messi Argentina +400 Harry Kane England +450 Mikal Oyarzabal Spain +900 Erling Haaland Norway +1200 Deniz Uvdav Germany +1800 Vinicius Junior Brazil +2000 Kai Havertz Germany +2000 Matheus Cunha Brazil +2200 Who won World Cup 2022 Golden Boot? Kylian Mbappe made history by becoming the first man since England hero Geoff Hurst in 1966 to score a hat-trick in the World Cup final.
Mbappe also converted his penalty in the shootout after a thrilling 3-3 draw against Argentina, but Les Bleus ultimately came up agonisingly short.
There was at least the consolation for Mbappe of taking home the Golden Boot, following on from his four-goal showing on his triumphant World Cup debut in 2018.
Rank Player Team Goals
(Penalties) Assists Matches 1. Kylian Mbappe France 8 (2) 2 7 2. Lionel Messi Argentina 7 (4) 3 7 3. Julian Alvarez Argentina 4 (0) 1 7 Olivier Giroud France 4 (0) 0 6 5. Goncalo Ramos Portugal 3 (0) 1 4 Alvaro Morata Spain 3 (0) 1 4 Bukayo Saka England 3 (0) 1 4 Richarlison Brazil 3 (0) 1 4 Marcus Rashford England 3 (0) 0 5 Enner Valencia Ecuador 3 (1) 0 3 Cody Gakpo Netherlands 3 (0) 0 5 12. Bruno Fernandes Portugal 2 (1) 3 4 Harry Kane England 2 (1) 3 5 Niclas Fullkrug Germany 2 (0) 1 3 Vincent Aboubakar Cameroon 2 (0) 1 3 Mehdi Taremi Iran 2 (1) 1 3 Neymar Brazil 2 (1) 1 3 Robert Lewandowski Poland 2 (1) 1 4 Wout Weghorst Netherlands 2 (0) 0 4 Rafael Leao Portugal 2 (0) 0 5 Kai Havertz Germany 2 (0) 0 2 Giorgian de Arrascaeta Uruguay 2 (0) 0 2 Ritsu Doan Japan 2 (0) 0 4 Ferran Torres Spain 2 (1) 0 4 Mohammed Kudus Ghana 2 (0) 0 3 Aleksandar Mitrovic Serbia 2 (0) 0 3 Salem Aldawsari S. Arabia 2 (0) 0 3 Cho Gue-sung S. Korea 2 (0) 0 4 Breel Embolo Switzerland 2 (0) 0 3 Andrej Kramaric Croatia 2 (0) 0 7 Youssef En-Nesyri Morocco 2 (0) 0 7 Every World Cup Golden Boot winner There have been 22 men’s World Cup tournaments and 22 different winners of the Golden Boot.
A scan of the all-time winners below makes it clear that it’s not always the star players who come away with the prestigious award.
Year Player Nation Goals 1930 Guillermo Stabile Argentina 8 1934 Oldrich Nejedly Czechoslovakia 5 1938 Leonidas Brazil 7 1950 Ademir Brazil 8 1954 Sandor Kocsis Hungary 11 1958 Just Fontaine France 13 1962 Florian Albert Hungary 4 1966 Eusebio Portugal 9 1970 Gerd Muller 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 6 1998 Davor Suker Croatia 6 2002 Ronaldo Brazil 8 2006 Miroslav Klose Germany 5 2010 Thomas Muller Germany 5 2014 James Rodriguez Colombia 6 2018 Harry Kane England 6 2022 Kylian Mbappe France 8 How many Golden Boot winners also won the World Cup? There have been 22 previous editions of the men’s FIFA World Cup, but there have only been three occasions when the champion also had a player atop the Golden Boot rankings.
The first one came in 1978, as Mario Kempes helped lead Argentina to triumph on home soil, including two goals in the final against the Netherlands.
In the following edition, it was another goal poacher, this time Italian forward Paolo Rossi, who also scored in the final to help the Azzurri cap their magical run with the title.
Another 20 years passed before the next player to do it, and it was one of the all-time greats. Brazil forward Ronaldo was the star of the 2002 World Cup, and he delivered for his country, scoring both goals in the final against Germany.
Ronaldo’s eight goals in that 2002 tournament are the most scored in a single tournament since Germany’s Gerd Muller hit double digits in 1970.