The race for the FIFA World Cup 2026 Golden Boot is shaping to be one of the greatest of all-time, with Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland all getting off to red hot starts.Â
After scoring a hat-trick against Algeria and a brace against Austria, Messi leads the way with five goals from the first two games.
The Argentina star now has 18 career goals at the World Cup, making him the all-time top goal scorer in the competition’s history, two ahead of previous record holder Miroslav Klose.
Mbappe is also just two behind Messi on that list following his latest exploits, as he scored twice against Iraq during a torrential downpour on Monday. In terms of the Golden Boot rankings, the France forward is just one goal behind him with four goals.
Kylian Mbappe fires France ahead on his 100th appearance for his country 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/77fyFHktTL
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) June 22, 2026
Keeping pace with the Real Madrid superstar is none other than Erling Haaland, who is already Norway’s top scorer in World Cup history after only two games. The Manchester City striker added two more goals against Senegal on Monday to the two he scored against Iraq last week.
Argentina, France and Norway are all guaranteed to be in the round of 32 now, so their respective managers may choose to rest and rotate their key men. But something tells me Messi, Mbappe and Norway don’t want to miss any opportunity to add to their tallies this summer.
Read – Every player to win 100 caps for France as Mbappe reaches milestone
Two surprise contenders for the Golden Boot, meanwhile, are Germany’s Denis Undav and Jonathan David of Canada.
Former Brighton attacker Undav has already amassed three goals and two assists, despite being on the pitch for about an hour over the first couple of games so far. Juventus forward David blanked against Bosnia and Herzegovina, but netted a hat-trick against lowly Qatar.
At the time of writing, Harry Kane is on two goals, but the England striker has only played once so far. With Ghana and Panama up next for the Three Lions, one imagines the ex-Spurs talisman will be right up near or at the top of the scoring charts by the end of the group stage.
FIFA World Cup 2026 Golden Boot race:
1. Lionel Messi (Argentina) – 5
=2. Kylian Mbappe (France) – 4
=2. Erling Haaland (Norway) – 4
=4. Denis Undav (Germany) – 3
=4. Jonathan David (Canada) – 3
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See Also – The all-time leading World Cup goal scorers as Messi breaks record
