2026 World Cup Golden Boot: Most goals, standings
Article excerpt
Tracking the top scorers in North America this summer looking to make history.
June 16, 2026; Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.; Argentina's Lionel Messi celebrates with teammates after the match. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
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 Thursday, June 18:
PlayerTeamGoalsAssistsMinutes
Lionel MessiArgentina3083
Folarin BalogunUnited States2077
Yasin AyariSweden20100
Kai HavertzGermany20100
Elijah JustNew Zealand20101
Harry KaneEngland20102
Erling HaalandNorway20103
Kylian MbappéFrance20106
Deniz UndavGermany1231
Alexander IsakSweden1294
Nathaniel BrownGermany1177
Hwang InbeomSouth Korea1187
Luis DíazColombia1198
Viktor GyokeresSweden11100
Ramin RezaeianIran11101
Mikel SvanbergSweden1013
Gio ReynaUnited States1020
Bradley BarcolaFrance1020
Cyle LarinCanada1020
Ibrahim MbayeSenegal1020
Marcus RashfordEngland1024
Oh HyeongyuSouth Korea1028
Jaminton CampazColombia1029
Leo ØstigardNorway1030
Amad DialloIvory Coast1043
MauricioParaguay1053
Marko ArnautovicAustria1058
Nestory IrankundaAustralia1064
Jovo LukicBosnia and Herzegovina1065
Jamal MusialaGermany1069
Petar MusaCroatia1071
Crysencio SummervilleNetherlands1072
Emam AshourEgypt1074
Felix NmechaGermany1077
Raul JimenezMexico1079
Julian QuinonesMexico1082
Abbosbek FayzullaevUzbekistan1082
Maxi AraujoUruguay1084
Martin BaturinaCroatia1084
Jude BellinghamEngland1085
John McGinnScotland1086
Romano SchmidAustria1086
Ismael SaibariMorocco1092
Daichi KamadaJapan1099
Keito NakamuraJapan1099
Virgil van DijkNetherlands1099
Ladislav KrejciCzechia10100
Connor MetcalfeAustralia10100
Omar RekikTunisia10100
Livano ComenenciaCuraçao10100
Nico SchlotterbeckGermany10100
Joāo NevesPortugal10101
Yoane WissaDR Congo10101
Mohammad MohebbiIran10101
Abdulelah Al-AmriSaudi Arabia10102
Breel EmboloSwitzerland10103
Aymen HusseinIraq10103
Vinicius Jr.Brazil10104
Daniel MuñozColombia10106
Ali OlwanJordan10107
Caleb YirenkyiGhana10107