We are almost a week into the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and that means it is the perfect time to start looking at one of the big stories from this tournament every four years.
2026 World Cup Golden Boot: Most goals, standings
Tracking the top scorers in North America this summer looking to make history.
Mark Schofield is a former college quarterback and attorney covering the NFL and F1.
The chase for the Golden Boot.
The 2026 World Cup could see history, given the presence of Kylian Mbappe. In the history of this event, no player has ever won the Golden Boot twice. After winning the Golden Boot at the 2022 World Cup, Mbappe could become the first player to achieve that feat, if he were to win again this year.
Mbappe’s brace against Senegal got his campaign for a second Golden Boot off to a strong start, but Lionel Messi’s hat trick against Algeria put the Argentina legend atop the list after his opening match.
Here are the current standings in the chase for the Golden Boot. You will note that assists and minutes played are listed, as those are the two tiebreakers in determining the winner of the Golden Boot. In the case of ties, the player with the most assists is ranked ahead.
Should there still be a tie, the player with the fewest minutes played is ranked ahead.
Note: Table last updated Thursday, June 18 after Canada-Qatar:
Player | Team | Goals | Assists | Minutes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lionel Messi | Argentina | 3 | 0 | 83 |
| Jonathan David | Canada | 3 | 0 | 165 |
| Johan Manzambi | Switzerland | 2 | 0 | 59 |
| Folarin Balogun | United States | 2 | 0 | 77 |
| Yasin Ayari | Sweden | 2 | 0 | 100 |
| Kai Havertz | Germany | 2 | 0 | 100 |
| Elijah Just | New Zealand | 2 | 0 | 101 |
| Harry Kane | England | 2 | 0 | 102 |
| Erling Haaland | Norway | 2 | 0 | 103 |
| Kylian Mbappé | France | 2 | 0 | 106 |
| Cyle Larin | Canada | 2 | 0 | 121 |
| Deniz Undav | Germany | 1 | 2 | 31 |
| Alexander Isak | Sweden | 1 | 2 | 94 |
| Nathan-Dylan Saliba | Canada | 1 | 1 | 38 |
| Nathaniel Brown | Germany | 1 | 1 | 77 |
| Hwang Inbeom | South Korea | 1 | 1 | 87 |
| Luis Díaz | Colombia | 1 | 1 | 98 |
| Viktor Gyokeres | Sweden | 1 | 1 | 100 |
| Ramin Rezaeian | Iran | 1 | 1 | 101 |
| Ruben Vargas | Switzerland | 1 | 1 | 111 |
| Breel Embolo | Switzerland | 1 | 1 | 195 |
| Ermin Mahmic | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| Mikel Svanberg | Sweden | 1 | 0 | 13 |
| Gio Reyna | United States | 1 | 0 | 20 |
| Bradley Barcola | France | 1 | 0 | 20 |
| Ibrahim Mbaye | Senegal | 1 | 0 | 20 |
| Marcus Rashford | England | 1 | 0 | 24 |
| Oh Hyeongyu | South Korea | 1 | 0 | 28 |
| Jaminton Campaz | Colombia | 1 | 0 | 29 |
| Leo Østigard | Norway | 1 | 0 | 30 |
| Amad Diallo | Ivory Coast | 1 | 0 | 43 |
| Mauricio | Paraguay | 1 | 0 | 53 |
| Marko Arnautovic | Austria | 1 | 0 | 58 |
| Nestory Irankunda | Australia | 1 | 0 | 64 |
| Jamal Musiala | Germany | 1 | 0 | 69 |
| Petar Musa | Croatia | 1 | 0 | 71 |
| Crysencio Summerville | Netherlands | 1 | 0 | 72 |
| Emam Ashour | Egypt | 1 | 0 | 74 |
| Felix Nmecha | Germany | 1 | 0 | 77 |
| Jovo Lukic | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1 | 0 | 77 |
| Raul Jimenez | Mexico | 1 | 0 | 79 |
| Julian Quinones | Mexico | 1 | 0 | 82 |
| Abbosbek Fayzullaev | Uzbekistan | 1 | 0 | 82 |
| Maxi Araujo | Uruguay | 1 | 0 | 84 |
| Martin Baturina | Croatia | 1 | 0 | 84 |
| Jude Bellingham | England | 1 | 0 | 85 |
| John McGinn | Scotland | 1 | 0 | 86 |
| Romano Schmid | Austria | 1 | 0 | 86 |
| Ismael Saibari | Morocco | 1 | 0 | 92 |
| Daichi Kamada | Japan | 1 | 0 | 99 |
| Keito Nakamura | Japan | 1 | 0 | 99 |
| Virgil van Dijk | Netherlands | 1 | 0 | 99 |
| Connor Metcalfe | Australia | 1 | 0 | 100 |
| Omar Rekik | Tunisia | 1 | 0 | 100 |
| Livano Comenencia | Curaçao | 1 | 0 | 100 |
| Nico Schlotterbeck | Germany | 1 | 0 | 100 |
| Joāo Neves | Portugal | 1 | 0 | 101 |
| Yoane Wissa | DR Congo | 1 | 0 | 101 |
| Mohammad Mohebbi | Iran | 1 | 0 | 101 |
| Abdulelah Al-Amri | Saudi Arabia | 1 | 0 | 102 |
| Aymen Hussein | Iraq | 1 | 0 | 103 |
| Michal Sadilek | Czechia | 1 | 0 | 104 |
| Vinicius Jr. | Brazil | 1 | 0 | 104 |
| Daniel Muñoz | Colombia | 1 | 0 | 106 |
| Ali Olwan | Jordan | 1 | 0 | 107 |
| Caleb Yirenkyi | Ghana | 1 | 0 | 107 |
| Ladislav Krejci | Czechia | 1 | 0 | 201 |
| Teboho Mokoena | South Africa | 1 | 0 | 202 |
| Granit Xhaka | Switzerland | 1 | 0 | 204 |
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