The stars have been out at the 2026 World Cup. We’re now reaching the back end of group play, 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.
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Lionel Messi retook the top spot early in Argentina‘s knockout round-clinching victory against Austria on Monday. Shortly after missing a penalty kick, the Argentine legend drilled a left-footer into the bottom-left corner of the net to overtake Germany‘s Miroslav Klose with his record 17th World Cup goal. Then, just before the match wrapped, Messi scored again. He’s accounted for all five of his country’s goals and has now surpassed Brazil‘s Marta for the most goals (18) any player’s scored in the World Cup, men’s or women’s.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Messi’s one of eight players with at least three goals in the tournament so far.
World Cup 2026: Daily schedule | Group schedule, results | Standings
Messi is one goal ahead of Brazil’s Vinícius Júnior, France’s Kylian Mbappé and Norway’s Erling Haaland. Vinícius Júnior netted a pair of first-half goals on Wednesday against Scotland. He has the edge over Mbappé and Haaland right now, thanks to the assist he recorded in a 3-0 victory against Haiti last week.
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Mbappé and Haaland have found the back of the net twice in each of their group-stage matches. Haaland, playing in his first World Cup, has led Norway to the knockout round. But first, he’ll face off against Mbappé in a Friday contest that’ll decide the winner of Group I.
An intriguing Golden Boot contender is Germany super sub Deniz Undav. He scored twice this past Saturday to run his tournament total to three goals. He also has a pair of assists under his belt.
Both Messi and Canada’s Jonathan David have authored hat tricks. Messi’s came in Argentina’s opener against Algeria, while David’s three-goal showcase arrived amid Canada’s first-ever World Cup win, a 6-0 trouncing of Qatar.
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We’ll be monitoring the Golden Boot race throughout the tournament on this page, so bookmark it and come back to see who’s on top.
