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 Friday, June 19 after Brazil-Haiti:
| Player | Team | Goals | Assists | Minutes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lionel Messi | Argentina | 3 | 0 | 83 |
| Jonathan David | Canada | 3 | 0 | 165 |
| Vinicius Jr. | Brazil | 2 | 1 | 191 |
| Johan Manzambi | Switzerland | 2 | 0 | 59 |
| 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 |
| Matheus Cunha | Brazil | 2 | 0 | 109 |
| Cyle Larin | Canada | 2 | 0 | 121 |
| Folarin Balogun | United States | 2 | 0 | 180 |
| Ismael Saibari | Morocco | 2 | 0 | 181 |
| 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 |
| Alex Freeman | United States | 1 | 1 | 209 |
| 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 |
| Jamal Musiala | Germany | 1 | 0 | 69 |
| Petar Musa | Croatia | 1 | 0 | 71 |
| Crysencio Summerville | Netherlands | 1 | 0 | 72 |
| Emam Ashour | Egypt | 1 | 0 | 74 |
| Luis Romo | Mexico | 1 | 0 | 75 |
| 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 |
| Romano Schmid | Austria | 1 | 0 | 86 |
| Daichi Kamada | Japan | 1 | 0 | 99 |
| Keito Nakamura | Japan | 1 | 0 | 99 |
| Virgil van Dijk | Netherlands | 1 | 0 | 99 |
| 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 |
| Daniel Muñoz | Colombia | 1 | 0 | 106 |
| Ali Olwan | Jordan | 1 | 0 | 107 |
| Caleb Yirenkyi | Ghana | 1 | 0 | 107 |
| Nestory Irankunda | Australia | 1 | 0 | 117 |
| Connor Metcalfe | Australia | 1 | 0 | 153 |
| John McGinn | Scotland | 1 | 0 | 180 |
| Ladislav Krejci | Czechia | 1 | 0 | 201 |
| Teboho Mokoena | South Africa | 1 | 0 | 202 |
| Granit Xhaka | Switzerland | 1 | 0 | 204 |