World Cup 2026 Top Scorers: Who's in the Golden Boot Battle?
Alejandra Martínez
— · 5 min read
It's four days into the 2026 World Cup and Thierry Henry's words ring truer than ever. While the trophy total for all 48 teams is the main focus, the prize of the Golden Boot is also available. The winner of the award can be unpredictable, as the award has not gone to a player on the tournament's winning team since 2002, when Ronaldo scored eight goals for Brazil to lead his team to a fifth World Cup. Just Fontaine's record is 13 goals in 1958, when France lost in the semi-finals for the first time. But with 16 more teams and 40 more matches than the 2022 World Cup, the chances now are ripe for the most goals. So, what does this fight look like?
1. Folarin Balogun (US) – 2 goals Balogun scored twice in 19 minutes in a 4–1 win over Paraguay. He scored the first goal in the 31st minute by sidefooting Christian Pulisic's cross, while the second goal he followed a pass from Malik Tilman to ground Paraguayan defender Omar Alderrete and shoot high into the goal with his weaker left foot.
=1. Kai Howertz (Germany) – 2 goals Havertz scored two goals in Germany's World Cup opener against Cucaraco; The first was a penalty that put his side 3–1 up in the first half and the second was a chipped finish that completed a 7–1 win.
=1. Yasin Ayari (Sweden) – 2 goals The Brighton and Hove Albion midfielder scored Sweden's first goal in a 5-1 win over Tunisia but his spirits were dampened, as his father is from the North African country. Ayari sealed the victory with a long shot in the second half.
=4. 30 players – 1 goal Raal Jimenez (Mexico) Julian Quinones (Mexico) Hwang In-Beom (South Korea) Oh Hyun-gyu (South Korea) Ladislav Krejci (Czech Republic) Syllaine Larin (Canada) Jovo Lukic (Bosnia and Herzegovina) Jio Raina (USA) Mauricio (Paraguay) Braille Ambolo (Switzerland) Bualem Khukhi (row) Vinicius Jr. (Brazil) Ismail Saibari (Morocco) John McGinn (Scotland) Nestorie Erankunda (Australia) Connor Metcalfe (Australia) Nathaniel Brown (Germany) Nico Sloterback (Germany) Felix Namecha (Germany) Deniz Yudaj (Germany) Jamal Musiala (Germany) Virgil van Dyck (Netherlands) Crisencio Somerville (Netherlands) Daiichi Kamada (Japan) Keito Nakamura (Japan) Amad (Avry Coast) Alexander Esk (Sweden) Victor Giocres (Sweden) Mattias Svenberg (Sweden) Omar Rekke (Tunisia)
Who are this year's favorites? France's Kylian Abbé and England's Harry Kane are traveling to North America, Canada and Mexico for the tournament. Abbape enjoyed a prolific year with Real Madrid, scoring 25 goals in La Liga and 15 in the Champions League. He scored against Brazil in March to take his tally to 56 international goals, just behind France's all-time leader Olivier Giroud's 57. Kane is also in good form for his club and country. The Bayern Munich striker scored 36 goals through the 2025-26 Bundesliga campaign, the most in Europe's top leagues, and also scored 14 goals in the Champions League. The 32-year-old is England's main attacking player.
Erling Holland won the Premier League's Golden Boot this year, when he scored 27 goals for Manchester City. This time he participates in the first World Cup with his country's team. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi had a good season with Inter Miami, when he scored 12 goals in 14 matches in the current season.
Past former Golden Boot winners The award was introduced in 1982 as the 'Golden Shoe', although the tournament's top scorer had been given an unspecified recognition since the 1930s. In 2022, Abbé became only the second man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final, barring Jeff Hurst, who was not part of the winning side in 1966. The France striker's eight goals tied Brazil's Ronaldo in 2002 for the most goals scored in a single World Cup. Four years ago, Kane won the award with six goals as his England side reached the semi-finals, where they beat Croatia.
Here are the players who have scored the most goals in each World Cup: - 1930: Guillermo Stabile (Argentina) — 8 goals - 1934: Oldrich Nejedli (Czech Republic) — 5 goals - 1938: Leonidas (Brazil) — 7 goals - 1950: Audemir (Brazil) — 8 goals - 1954: Sandor Kokis (Hungary) — 11 goals - 1958: Just Fontaine (France) — 13 goals - 1962: Florian Albert (Hungary), Valentin Ivanov (Soviet Union), Garincha (Brazil), Vava (Brazil), Drjan Jerkovic (Yugoslavia), Lionel Sanchez (Chile) — 4 goals - 1966: Eusebio (Portugal) — 9 goals - 1970: Gerd Müller (West Germany) — 10 goals - 1974: Gregorz Lato (Poland) — 7 goals - 1978: Mario Campes (Argentina) — 6 goals - 1982: Paolo Rossi (Italy) — 6 goals - 1986: Gary Lineker (England) – 6 goals - 1990: Salvatore Schillaci (Italy) — 6 goals - 1994: Oleg Salenko (Russia), Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria) — 6 goals - 1998: Davor Sukar (Croatia) — 6 goals - 2002: Ronaldo (Brazil) — 8 goals - 2006: Miroslav Klose (Germany) — 5 goals - 2010: Thomas Müller (Germany) — 5 goals - 2014: James Rodriguez (Colombia) — 6 goals - 2018: Harry Kane (England) — 6 goals - 2022: Kylian Abbappé (France) — 8 goals
What happens if multiple players with the same goals are eliminated at the same time? Since 1992, the ranking has been determined by most assists when the number of goals is even. It happened in 2010 when Spain's David Villa, Uruguay's Diego Foral and Netherlands' Wesley Sneijder scored the same goals as Muller (5). The German won the award, as he provided three assists, which was a record compared to other competitions. In 2006, another tiebreaker was added if assists were equal, awarding the award to the player who scored the fewest number of goals.
