Read for 2 minutesUpdated: 19 July 2026 08:30 AM IST
The FIFA World Cup Golden Boot race has effectively become a personal competition between Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi over the past two editions.
Saturday night, Mbappe eclipsed Messi’s all-time World Cup goal record With a brace in the third-place playoff game, France lost 4–6 to England in the bronze medal thriller. Mbappe’s brace not only took him to 21 goals, one more than Messi on the World Cup leaderboard, but the Frenchman also scored 10 goals in this edition.
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With Mbappe winning the Golden Boot eight goals ahead of Messi (7 goals) at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the Argentine superstar needs another sensational performance to claim the award for the first time in his career in Sunday’s final against Spain.
How can Messi take the Golden Boot lead in the World Cup final?
Trailing by two goals, Messi can make it three straight qualifiers over Mbappe in the final.
- If Messi scores a hat-trick He would finish with 11 goals, one shy of Mbappe’s tally of 10.
- If Messi scores two goals He needs to complete at least one more assist to pip Mbappe who also has four assists to go with his 10 goals.
- Messi can also take the Golden Boot lead If he scores two goals in the final, if he doesn’t play more than 56 minutes against Spain, the big night is a highly unlikely scenario. Mbappe scored 10 goals and 4 assists in 769 minutes, while Messi scored 8 goals and 4 assists in 712 minutes.
In total, 10 players scored at least four goals in this edition England’s Jude Bellingham finished third with seven goals. Norwegian superstar Erling Haaland also scored seven goals in just 537 minutes.
FIFA World Cup 2026: Golden Boot Race
| rank | player | Round | Assists | minutes |
| 1 | Kylian Mbappe France |
10 | 4 | 769 |
| 2 | Lionel Messi Argentina |
8 | 4 | 712 |
| 3 | Jude Bellingham England |
7 | 1 | 698 |
| 4 | Erling Halland Norway |
7 | 0 | 537 |
| 5 | Ousmane Dembele France |
6 | 2 | 648 |
| 6 | Harry Kane England |
6 | 1 | 732 |
| 7 | Michael Oyarzabal Spain |
5 | 1 | 599 |
| 8 | Sir Ismaila Senegal |
4 | 1 | 419 |
| 9 | Julian Quinones Mexico |
4 | 1 | 440 |
| 10 | Vinicius the Younger Brazil |
4 | 1 | 505 |
Updated till 19 July 2026 after France vs England match