World Cup 2026 Golden Boot race: Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Vinicius Jr in epic battle to be top scorer
Lionel Messi leads Harry Kane, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe in race for World Cup Golden Boot; Ousmane Dembele and Vinicius Jr also in mix; Cristiano Ronaldo also a contender; Just Fontaine's 1958 record of 13 goals in a single tournament is in sight
Wednesday 1 July 2026 19:35, UK
Harry Kane kept pace with the World Cup Golden Boot contenders with his two goals against DR Congo, going level with Erling Haaland and one behind Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe.
The superstars are delivering on the biggest stage of them all and are setting a blistering pace in the race to be the 2026 tournament's top goalscorer.
Messi and Mbappe head the field with six goals, but Haaland hit his fifth of the tournament in Norway's last-32 win over Ivory Coast to close in on the Argentina icon.
Kane joined the party in Atlanta, with two late goals to earn England a spot in the last 16 and taking his tournament total to five.
Mbappe's team-mate Ousmane Dembele and Brazil's Vinicius Jr are one further back on four goals.
How the race for the Golden Boot stands...
Who will win the Golden Boot? Have your say...
Will anyone else join the party?
The big question is: will anyone else gatecrash the Golden Boot party?
Germany duo Kai Havertz and Deniz Undav plus Netherlands pair Cody Gakpo and Brian Brobbey (all three) no longer have a chance to add to their tallies following their countries' last-32 exit.
But Brazil's Matheus Cunha, Senegal's Ismaila Sarr (three) and Canada's Jonathan David remain in the mix, as do Mikel Oyarzabal - scorer of the winning goal for Spain in the Euro 2024 final - the USA's Folarin Balogun and evergreen Cristiano Ronaldo, who finally got off the mark with a double against Uzbekistan.
The problem for the rest is Messi, Mbappe and Haaland show no signs of slowing down any time soon...
Could more records tumble?
Miroslav Klose started the tournament out in front on the all-time World Cup goalscoring chart with 16 goals.
Two games in and Messi is now two ahead with 19, while Mbappe has also overtaken the Germany striker, whose international career spanned the World Cups from 2002 to 2014.
Haaland became Norway's leading goalscorer at World Cups after just two games, while Kane has gone past Gary Lineker as England's top World Cup scorer.
Golden Boot contenders will be targeting Just Fontaine's 1958 record of 13 goals in a single tournament.
Only three players in World Cup history - Fontaine, Germany's Gerd Muller in 1970 and Hungary's Sandor Kocsis in 1954 - have ever hit double figures at a single tournament.
At the current rate of scoring at this tournament, three or more players could do it this summer!
What other records have been broken?
Most World Cup matches played: Lionel Messi (29)
Most World Cup wins: Lionel Messi (19)
Most World Cup tournaments played: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo (six each)
First player to score in six World Cups: Cristiano Ronaldo
Oldest player to score multiple goals in a game: Cristiano Ronaldo
Smallest nation to appear at a World Cup: Curacao
Most red cards in an opening match: Mexico vs South Africa (three)
Most-attended World Cup
Highest-scoring World Cup
