Kylian Mbappe is back atop the FIFA World Cup top scorer table with a fourth and fifth goal scored against Poland to put him alone in first place for the Golden Boot award.
Mbappe now has nine career World Cup goals, and at the age of 23 he has already scored more goals than legends Diego Maradona (Argentina) and Rivaldo (Brazil) had in their entire careers.
Lionel Messi highlights the list of six players two goals behind Mbappe on three goals, with France’s Olivier Giroud the latest to join a group that also features: Spain’s Alvaro Morata, Ecuador’s Enner Valencia, rising Dutch star Cody Gakpo, and England forward Marcus Rashford.
Of this leading group of players, Ecuador’s Valencia is the only one who is not set to play knockout matches, and he will get left behind by the world’s biggest stars.
As more names are added to the list below, page 57 of the official FIFA World Cup tournament rules explains what happens in case players are tied on goals. There are two layers of tiebreakers: (1) most assists, (2) fewest minutes played.
The table below is updated after every match and will take into account the above tiebreakers.
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FIFA World Cup 2022 Top Scorers
The table below is updated as of Sunday, December 4 as of the conclusion of France vs. Poland.
| Rank | Player | Team | Goals (Penalties) |
Assists | Matches | Minutes Played |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Kylian Mbappe | France | 5 (0) | 1 | 4 | 297 |
| 2. | Alvaro Morata | Spain | 3 (0) | 1 | 3 | 126 |
| Lionel Messi | Argentina | 3 (1) | 1 | 4 | 270 | |
| Marcus Rashford | England | 3 (0) | 0 | 3 | 117 | |
| Olivier Giroud | France | 3 (0) | 0 | 3 | 227 | |
| Enner Valencia | Ecuador | 3 (1) | 0 | 3 | 257 | |
| Cody Gakpo | Netherlands | 3 (0) | 0 | 4 | 341 | |
| 8. | Bruno Fernandes | Portugal | 2 (1) | 2 | 2 | 180 |
| Niclas Fullkrug | Germany | 2 (0) | 1 | 3 | 66 | |
| Vincent Aboubakar | Cameroon | 2 (0) | 1 | 3 | 141 | |
| Kai Havertz | Germany | 2 (0) | 0 | 2 | 102 | |
| Giorgian de Arrascaeta | Uruguay | 2 (0) | 0 | 2 | 108 | |
| Ritsu Doan | Japan | 2 (0) | 0 | 3 | 131 | |
| Ferran Torres | Spain | 2 (1) | 0 | 3 | 144 | |
| Bukayo Saka | England | 2 (0) | 0 | 2 | 149 | |
| Richarlison | Brazil | 2 (0) | 0 | 2 | 152 | |
| Mehdi Taremi | Iran | 2 (1) | 0 | 2 | 180 | |
| Cho Gue-sung | S. Korea | 2 (0) | 0 | 3 | 196 | |
| Andrej Kramaric | Croatia | 2 (0) | 0 | 3 | 208 | |
| Breel Embolo | Switzerland | 2 (0) | 0 | 3 | 238 | |
| Mohammed Kudus | Ghana | 2 (0) | 0 | 3 | 250 | |
| Aleksandar Mitrovic | Serbia | 2 (0) | 0 | 3 | 263 | |
| Salem Aldawsari | Saudi Arabia | 2 (0) | 0 | 3 | 270 |
- 1 goal: 72 players
- Own goals: 3 players
Note: There have been 130 goals scored in the World Cup thus far with two (3) own goals by Morocco’s Nayef Aguerd, Germany’s Manuel Neuer, and Argentina’s Enzo Fernandez.
Odds to win 2022 Golden Boot
Harry Kane was the leading pre-tournament contender to repeat as winner after claiming it four years ago with six goals in England’s run to the semifinals. But history is against him, given no one has ever repeated as Golden Boot winner.
Karim Benzema was third favorite (+1000) to win the 2022 award at one point, but he was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to injury. Romelu Lukaku is also battling an injury with Belgium.
Pre-tournament odds below are via Caesars (USA), Sports Interaction (Canada), SkyBet (UK), and Ladbrokes (Australia).
| Player | Country | Caesars (USA) |
Sports Interaction (Canada) |
SkyBet (UK) |
Ladbrokes (AU) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harry Kane | England | +800 | 6.07 | 7/1 | 8.00 |
| Kylian Mbappe | France | +800 | 7.50 | 8/1 | 8.00 |
| Lionel Messi | Argentina | +900 | 9.00 | 10/1 | 11.00 |
| Neymar | Brazil | +1200 | 11.00 | 10/1 | 13.00 |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | Portugal | +2000 | 15.00 | 16/1 | 15.00 |
| Lautaro Martinez | Argentina | +2200 | 17.00 | 20/1 | 21.00 |
| Vinicius, Jr. | Brazil | +2800 | 27.00 | 25/1 | 26.00 |
| Memphis Depay | Netherlands | +2800 | 20.00 | 25/1 | 26.00 |
| Gabriel Jesus | Brazil | +3500 | 31.00 | 33/1 | 34.00 |
| Romelu Lukaku | Belgium | +3500 | 23.00 | 25/1 | 29.00 |
| Richarlison | Brazil | +3500 | 21.00 | 28/1 | 26.00 |
| Alvaro Morata | Spain | +3500 | 32.00 | 33/1 | 26.00 |
| Olivier Giroud | France | +3500 | 37.00 | 40/1 | 41.00 |
Who won World Cup 2018 Golden Boot
England’s Harry Kane played the maximum seven matches as England made it all the way to the semifinals and also featured in the third-place match.
Kane’s six goals were two better than the rest of the field, which included Cristiano Ronaldo and the French duo of Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann, who helped their team to the World Cup title.
| Rank | Player | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Harry Kane | England | 6 |
| 2. | Cristiano Ronaldo | Portugal | 4 |
| Denis Cheryshev | Russia | 4 | |
| Romelu Lukaku | Belgium | 4 | |
| Kylian Mbappe | France | 4 | |
| Antoine Griezmann | France | 4 | |
| 7. | Yerry Mina | Colombia | 3 |
| Diego Costa | Spain | 3 | |
| Edinson Cavani | Uruguay | 3 | |
| Artem Dzyuba | Russia | 3 |
World Cup Golden Boot winners all time
There have been 21 men’s World Cup tournaments and 21 different winners of the Golden Boot.
And a scan of the all-time winners below makes it clear that it’s not always the star players who come away with the prestigious award.
| Year | Player | Nation | Goals |
| 1930 | Guillermo Stabile | Argentina | 8 |
| 1934 | Oldrich Nejedly | Czechoslovakia | 5 |
| 1938 | Leonidas | Brazil | 7 |
| 1950 | Ademir | Brazil | 8 |
| 1954 | Sandor Kocsis | Hungary | 11 |
| 1958 | Just Fontaine | France | 13 |
| 1962 | Florian Albert | Hungary | 4 |
| 1966 | Eusebio | Portugal | 9 |
| 1970 | Gerd Muller | West Germany | 10 |
| 1974 | Grzegorz Lato | Poland | 7 |
| 1978 | Mario Kempes | Argentina | 6 |
| 1982 | Paolo Rossi | Italy | 6 |
| 1986 | Gary Lineker | England | 6 |
| 1990 | Salvatore Schillaci | Italy | 6 |
| 1994 | Oleg Salenko | Russia | 6 |
| 1998 | Davor Suker | Croatia | 6 |
| 2002 | Ronaldo | Brazil | 8 |
| 2006 | Miroslav Klose | Germany | 5 |
| 2010 | Thomas Muller | Germany | 5 |
| 2014 | James Rodriguez | Colombia | 6 |
| 2018 | Harry Kane | England | 6 |
How many Golden Boot winners also won the World Cup?
There have been 21 previous editions of the men’s FIFA World Cup, but there has only been three occasions where the champion also had a player atop the Golden Boot rankings.
The first one came in 1978, as Mario Kempes helped lead Argentina to triumph on home soil, including two goals in the final against the Netherlands.
The following edition it was another goal poacher, this time Italian forward Paolo Rossi, who also scored in the final to help the Azzurri cap their magical run with the title.
Another 20 years passed before the next player to do it, and it was one of the all-time greats. Brazil forward Ronaldo was the star of the 2002 World Cup and he delivered for his country, scoring both goals in the final against Germany.
Ronaldo’s eight goals in that 2002 tournament are the most scored in a single tournament since Germany’s Gerd Muller hit double digits in 1970.
Who has the most goals in World Cup history?
There are only 13 players who can boast to have double-digit goal totals in FIFA World Cup history. And there’s just one active player on that elite list, who is also heading to Qatar 2022.
Germany’s Thomas Muller is getting set to play in his fourth consecutive World Cup. He enters the tournament knowing that just two goals in the FIFA 2022 tournament would have him even with legendary Pele of Brazil.
| Player | Nation | Goals | Tournaments |
| Miroslav Klose | Germany | 16 | 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 |
| Ronaldo | Brazil | 15 | 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006 |
| Gerd Muller | Germany | 14 | 1970, 1974 |
| Just Fontaine | France | 13 | 1958 |
| Pele | Brazil | 12 | 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970 |
| Sandor Kocsis | Hungary | 11 | 1954 |
| Jurgen Klinsmann | Germany | 11 | 1990, 1994, 1998 |
| Helmut Rahn | Germany | 10 | 1954, 1958 |
| Gary Linekar | England | 10 | 1986, 1990 |
| Gabriel Batistuta | Argentina | 10 | 1994, 1998, 2002 |
| Teofilo Cubillas | Peru | 10 | 1970, 1974, 1982 |
| Thomas Muller | Germany | 10 | 2010, 2014, 2018 |
| Grzegorz Lato | Poland | 10 | 1974, 1978, 1982 |