World Cup Golden Boot rankings 2022: Kylian Mbappe wins top scorer crown after epic final

Simon Borg

World Cup Golden Boot rankings 2022: Kylian Mbappe wins top scorer crown after epic final image

Argentina won the World Cup final, but Kylian Mbappe will take home the 2022 FIFA World Cup Golden Boot.

France's Kylian Mbappe and Argentina's Lionel Messi entered the World Cup final showdown between their two nations level on five goals each for the tournament. Then they exchanged spots atop the table several times during the game.

First Messi took the lead after scoring a first-half penalty kick. Then Mbappe scored twice in quick succession late in the second half to jump ahead to seven goals.

Messi retook the lead with an extra time goal, only for Mbappe to respond again on a penalty for a historic hat-trick which leaves him at the top of the Golden Boot table.

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 tiebreakers.

MORE: 

FIFA World Cup 2022 Top Scorers

The final table below is updated as of Sunday, December 18 after the World Cup final. 

Rank Player Team Goals
(Penalties)
Assists Matches Minutes
Played
1. Kylian Mbappe France 8 (2) 2 7 597
2. Lionel Messi Argentina 7 (4) 3 7 690
3. Julian Alvarez Argentina 4 (0) 1 7 463
  Olivier Giroud France 4 (0) 0 6 420
5. Goncalo Ramos Portugal 3 (0) 1 4 151
  Alvaro Morata Spain 3 (0) 1 4 182
  Bukayo Saka England 3 (0) 1 4 289
  Richarlison Brazil 3 (0) 1 4 323
  Marcus Rashford England 3 (0) 0 5 136
  Enner Valencia Ecuador 3 (1) 0 3 255
  Cody Gakpo Netherlands 3 (0) 0 5 449
12. Bruno Fernandes Portugal 2 (1) 3 4 356
  Harry Kane England 2 (1) 3 5 401
  Niclas Fullkrug Germany 2 (0) 1 3 66
  Vincent Aboubakar Cameroon 2 (0) 1 3 141
  Mehdi Taremi Iran 2 (1) 1 3 270
  Neymar Brazil 2 (1) 1 3 271
  Robert Lewandowski Poland 2 (1) 1 4 360
  Wout Weghorst Netherlands 2 (0) 0 4 61
  Rafael Leao Portugal 2 (0) 0 5 83
  Kai Havertz Germany 2 (0) 0 2 101
  Giorgian de Arrascaeta Uruguay 2 (0) 0 2 107
  Ritsu Doan Japan 2 (0) 0 4 215
  Ferran Torres Spain 2 (1) 0 4 216
  Mohammed Kudus Ghana 2 (0) 0 3 247
  Aleksandar Mitrovic Serbia 2 (0) 0 3 262
  Salem Aldawsari S. Arabia 2 (0) 0 3 270
  Cho Gue-sung S. Korea 2 (0) 0 4 274
  Breel Embolo Switzerland 2 (0) 0 3 327
  Andrej Kramaric Croatia 2 (0) 0 7 474
  Youssef En-Nesyri Morocco 2 (0) 0 7 542
  • 1 goal: 84 players
  • Own goals: 3 players

Note: There have been 171 goals scored in the World Cup thus far with three (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 was 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. Belgium's Romelu Lukaku was also battling an injury and bad form which came back to haunt him in a critical match against Croatia in which he missed on a few chances to cost his team.

Pre-tournament odds below were 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 in 2018 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 have only been three occasions when 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 entered the 2022 FIFA World Cup knowing that two goals would have had him even with the legendary Pele of Brazil, but the Bayern Munich man went goal-less in Qatar.

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
Lionel Messi Argentina 11 2006, 2010, 2014,
2018, 2022
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

Simon Borg

Simon Borg Photo

Simon Borg is a senior editor at The Sporting News who has covered football/soccer for over a decade. A supporter of Italian club Parma Calcio from his years growing up in Europe, he was previously a long-time member of Major League Soccer's digital media team, as a multimedia content producer, on-air personality, and Editor-in-Chief. Based in New York City, Borg is multilingual and has covered the domestic and global scene for TSN since 2021.