Argentina’s Messi is level on goals with France’s Mbappe as World Cup favourites look to power through the knockouts.
Over to you, Lionel. It’s what football fans expect Kylian Mbappe to have said to Lionel Messi after France’s latest thumping win in the FIFA World Cup 2026.
The battle to be the tournament’s top scorer is heating up as the action moves into the knockout stages.
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Argentinian great Messi is battling it out with French superstar Mbappe at the top of the table, with Norway’s Erling Haaland and Brazil’s Vinicius Junior hot on their heels.
Here’s everything you need to know about FIFA’s Golden Boot award:
FIFA’s Golden Boot is awarded to the player with the most goals at the end of the tournament.
France’s Mbappe is the current holder after scoring eight goals in Qatar at the 2022 World Cup.
If two players are tied on the same number of goals at the end of the tournament, then the player with the most assists will win the award.
If those tiebreakers cannot split two players, then the Golden Boot is handed to the player who achieved their goals and assists in the least number of minutes.
Kylian Mbappe (France) – 6 goals, 2 assists
Lionel Messi (Argentina) – 6 goals, 0 assists
Erling Haaland (Norway) – 5 goals, 0 assists
Ousmane Dembele (France) – 4 goals, 2 assists
Vinicius Junior (Brazil) – 4 goals, 1 assist
Mbappe, Harry Kane and James Rodriguez are all looking to bag the top goal-scorer prize for a second time.
England’s Kane won the award in 2018 in Russia, while Colombia’s Rodriguez was top scorer in 2014 in Brazil.
No player has ever won the award more than once.
He can, but he needs to start scoring more goals, and quickly.
The Portuguese veteran has scored twice at this tournament, with both goals coming in a 5-0 win over Uzbekistan in the group stage.
Portugal are looking to go deep in the tournament and will be looking to their captain to add to his goal tally.
French forward Just Fontaine holds the record after scoring an incredible 13 goals at the 1958 tournament in Sweden.
Sandor Kocsis scored 11 at the 1954 tournament in Switzerland, while West Germany’s Gerd Muller bagged 10 at the World Cup 1970 in Mexico.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/7/1/who-is-leading-the-race-for-the-fifa-world-cup-2026-golden-boot-award?traffic_source=rss