World Cup Golden Boot: Kylian Mbappé wins after Lionel Messi is held scoreless in final

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Yahoo Sports Staff
Sun, July 19, 2026 at 10:45 PM UTC·1 min read

The stars were out throughout the 2026 World Cup, and they shined bright through the final days of the tournament

France’s Kylian Mbappé was the last player to move out in front of the Golden Boot race, striking twice in Les Bleus’ third-place match against England after they had stumbled to a 4-0 deficit in the first half Saturday. That put him two goals ahead of Lionel Messi before Argentina took the pitch in Sunday’s final against Spain

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Mbappé held on to win the Golden Boot, the award bestowed upon the World Cup’s top goal scorer, after Messi was held scoreless in Argentina’s 1-0 extra-time loss to Spain

Mbappé finished the tournament with 10 goals, two more than Messi

Mbappé has 22 career World Cup goals; Messi 21. During this year’s tournament, they 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 remains atop the women’s World Cup goal-scoring leaderboard

Mbappé also won the Golden Boot during the 2022 World Cup, which culminated in France falling to Argentina in a nail-biting final that went to penalty kicks

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Four players finished this year’s World Cup with at least seven goals

2026 World Cup Golden Boot final standings