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Andy BackstromContributing writer
Wed, July 15, 2026 at 9:45 PM UTC·4 min read
The stars have been out throughout the 2026 World Cup. There are a handful of them among the final four teams
We’ve been tracking the race for the Golden Boot, the award that’s bestowed to the World Cup’s top goal scorer. Assists are used as a tiebreaker if two or more players have the same goal total
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Lionel Messi has four of them, one more than France’s Kylian Mbappé, giving the Argentine legend a slight edge in the goal-scoring competition. They each have eight goals in this year’s tournament, but Messi’s pair of semifinal assists on Wednesday slingshotted him into the lead for the Golden Boot. Messi set the stage for both Argentina’s equalizer and game-winner in its dramatic 2-1 triumph over England. First he located Enzo Fernández, who blasted a strike from well beyond the box in the 85th minute. Then Messi dialed up a perfectly placed cross for Lautaro Martínez in the second minute of stoppage time. Martínez headed it in, effectively capping the come-from-behind victory.
The week prior, Messi created comparable cinema when he helped Argentina climb out of its two-goal World Cup tomb versus Egypt, assisting on a goal in the 79th minute and scoring the game-tying goal in the 83rd during a dramatic comeback win over the Pharaohs
While Messi’s streak of nine straight games with a World Cup goal — a stretch that dated back to the 2022 version of the tournament — is now over, he’s in position to win his first-ever World Cup Golden Boot and add another World Cup title while he’s at it
That said, despite France losing to Spain 2-0 in the semifinals on Tuesday, Mbappé can boost his goal count in the tournament’s third-place match versus England. Against Spain, Mbappé was held scoreless for just the second time in this year’s tournament. He remained part of his country’s starting XI after leaving France’s quarterfinal victory over Morocco in the 77th minute with what he described as a “minor ankle injury.”
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Mbappé, 27, has 20 career World Cup goals. Messi, 39, is the current record holder with 21. In this year’s tournament, they’ve each topped Germany’s Miroslav Klose (16 goals), the previous all-time leading goal scorer in men’s World Cup history, and Brazil’s Marta (17 goals), who’s still atop the women’s World Cup goal-scoring leaderboard
Mbappé won the Golden Boot during the 2022 World Cup, which culminated in his squad falling to Argentina in a nail-biting final that went to penalty kicks
Following semifinal competition, there are four players with at least six goals left in this year’s World Cup
(Note: Players whose teams have been eliminated from the tournament are not in the list below.)
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2026 World Cup Golden Boot race
NAME | COUNTRY | GOALS | |
1 | Lionel Messi | Argentina | 8 (4 assists) |
2 | Kylian Mbappé | France | 8 (3 assists) |
T-3 | Harry Kane | England | 6 (1 assist) |
T-3 | Jude Bellingham | England | 6 (1 assist) |
England’s Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham are each two goals behind Messi and Mbappé. Neither could find the back of the net Wednesday in a crushing semifinal defeat to Argentina
Kane, who won the Golden Boot during the 2018 World Cup, delivered a goal and an assist in England’s roller-coaster Round of 16 victory over Mexico. Bellingham joined the chase with his fifth and sixth goals of the tournament last week during England’s quarterfinal win over Norway. After back-to-back braces, Bellingham sits level with Kane on the Golden Boot leaderboard, with their third-place match versus France still on tap
Messi, France’s Ousmane Dembélé and Canada’s Jonathan David have authored hat tricks in this year’s World Cup. Messi’s scoring clinic came in Argentina’s opener versus Algeria. Dembélé’s took place in rapid fashion in group play versus Norway, and David’s three-goal showcase arrived amid Canada’s first-ever World Cup win, a 6-0 trouncing of Qatar
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Norway’s Erling Haaland starred during the tournament with seven goals, a sum he reached even without playing in his team’s final group-stage match. He guided his nation to the quarterfinals but will fall short of the Golden Boot
We’ll be monitoring the Golden Boot race throughout the tournament on this page, so bookmark it and come back to see who’s in the lead
