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.
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 Wednesday, June 17 following England-Croatia:
Player |
Team |
Goals |
Assists |
Minutes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lionel Messi | Argentina | 3 | 0 | 83 |
| 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 Mbappe | France | 2 | 0 | 106 |
| Deniz Undav | Germany | 1 | 2 | 31 |
| Alexander Isak | Sweden | 1 | 2 | 94 |
| Nathaniel Brown | Germany | 1 | 1 | 77 |
| Hwang Inbeom | South Korea | 1 | 1 | 87 |
| Viktor Gyokeres | Sweden | 1 | 1 | 100 |
| Ramin Rezaeian | Iran | 1 | 1 | 101 |
| Mikel Svanberg | Sweden | 1 | 0 | 13 |
| Gio Reyna | United States | 1 | 0 | 20 |
| Bradley Barcola | France | 1 | 0 | 20 |
| Cyle Larin | Canada | 1 | 0 | 20 |
| Ibrahim Mbaye | Senegal | 1 | 0 | 20 |
| Marcus Rashford | England | 1 | 0 | 24 |
| Oh Hyeongyu | South Korea | 1 | 0 | 28 |
| 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 |
| Jovo Lukic | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1 | 0 | 65 |
| 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 |
| Raul Jimenez | Mexico | 1 | 0 | 79 |
| Julian Quinones | Mexico | 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 |
| Ladislav Krejci | Czechia | 1 | 0 | 100 |
| 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 |
| Breel Embolo | Switzerland | 1 | 0 | 103 |
| Aymen Hussein | Iraq | 1 | 0 | 103 |
| Vinicius Jr. | Brazil | 1 | 0 | 104 |
| Ali Olwan | Jordan | 1 | 0 | 107 |
