The stars have been out at the 2026 World Cup. We’re in the knockout rounds, and the tournament’s top scorers are distancing themselves from the pack.

We’ve been tracking the race for the Golden Boot, the award that’s given to the World Cup’s top goal scorer. Assists are used as a tiebreaker if two or more players have the same goal total.

That’s why France‘s Kylian Mbappé has the lead. His two assists vault him ahead of Argentine legend Lionel Messi, even though both of them have seven goals in this year’s World Cup. Mbappé scored his seventh with a 70th-minute penalty kick in the Round of 16 on Saturday against Paraguay.

Messi’s came on Friday early in a thrilling win over Cape Verde in the Round of 32. In the 29th minute, he timed a run perfectly, took a touch with the outside of his boot and then went top shelf. Messi, 39, has scored in eight straight World Cup matches, dating back to the 2022 version of the tournament.

Mbappé has 19 career World Cup goals. Messi is the current record holder with 20. In this year’s tournament, they’ve each topped Germany‘s Miroslav Klose (16 goals), the previous all-time leading goal scorer in men’s World Cup history, and Brazil‘s Marta (17 goals), who’s still atop the women’s World Cup goal-scoring leaderboard.

Mbappé won the Golden Boot during the 2022 World Cup, which culminated in his squad falling to Argentina in a nail-biting final that went to PKs. Messi’s never won the Cup’s Golden Boot before.

As of Saturday night, there are seven players with at least four goals still remaining in this year’s World Cup.

(Note: Players whose teams have been eliminated from the tournament are not in the list below.)

World Cup 2026: Daily schedule | Group schedule, results | Standings

2026 World Cup Golden Boot race

RANK	NAME	COUNTRY	GOALS
1	Kylian Mbappé	France	7 (2 assists)
T-2	Lionel Messi	Argentina	7
T-2	Erling Haaland	Norway	7
4	Harry Kane	England	5
5	Ousmane Dembélé	France	4 (2 assists)
6	Mikel Oyarzabal	Spain	4 (1 assist)
7	Johan Manzambi	Switzerland	3 (2 assists)
8	Julián Quiñones	Mexico	3 (1 assist)

Norway’s Erling Haaland is level with them after a brace against Brazil on Sunday, but Mbappé has the tiebreaker. England’s Harry Kane is two goals behind them. On Sunday, Haaland found the back of the net against Brazil. On Wednesday, Kane hit twine twice during England’s Round of 32 victory against DR Congo, most notably delivering the game-winner in the 86th minute. Kane won the Golden Boot during the 2018 World Cup, and he’s in the mix for that prestigious honor once more.

Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal threw his hat in the ring on Thursday with a pair of goals in Spain’s Round of 32 win over Austria.

Messi, France’s Ousmane Dembélé and Canada‘s Jonathan David have authored hat tricks. Messi’s scoring clinic came in Argentina’s opener versus Algeria. Dembélé’s took place in rapid fashion in group play versus Norway, and David’s three-goal showcase arrived amid Canada’s first-ever World Cup win, a 6-0 trouncing of Qatar.

We’ll be monitoring the Golden Boot race throughout the tournament on this page, so bookmark it and come back to see who’s in the lead.

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Corinthia Mes