Who'll win the Golden Boot at the 2026 FIFA World Cup? The race is on for who'll score the most goals at the tournament, and it is set to be one of the tournament's most closely watched storylines. Several of the world's top forwards will be aiming to finish as the competition's leading goalscorer.
Lionel Messi – now the top all-time goalscorer in FIFA men's World Cup history – led the race through the group stages. After Messi jumped past Kylian Mbappé following his goal against Cape Verde, Mbappé matched him after his penalty in the second half of France's round of 16 matchup against Paraguay. And then Erling Haaland re-entered the chat with his brace against Brazil to make it a three-way tie.
Messi retook the Golden Boot lead with an equalizer when Argentina needed it most, to tie it 2-2 against Egypt in the late stages of the round of 16 before Argentina completed the comeback to move onto the quarterfinals. Mbappé caught back up with Messi in the second half against Morocco in their quarterfinal game when he found the net in the 60th minute. This marks the first time three players netted seven or more goals in a single World Cup.
Check out our list of all the 2026 World Cup group-stage goals, ranked! Favorites To Win The Golden Boot Kylian Mbappé: +105 (bet $10 to win $20.50 total)Lionel Messi: +150 (bet $10 to win $25 total)Erling Haaland: +850 (bet $10 to win $95 total)Harry Kane: +900 (bet $10 to win $100 total)Ousmane Dembélé: +3500 (bet $10 to win $360 total)Mikel Oyarzabal: +10000 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)Jude Bellingham: +12500 (bet $10 to win $1,260 total) 8 Goals 7 Goals 6 Goals 4 Goals 3 Goals 2 Goals Last 5 Golden Boot Winners
