A full list of every player to win the Golden Boot at the FIFA World Cup

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final taking place Sunday, here’s a look at all of the players to have won the Golden Boot at the world’s biggest sporting event:

Sunday marks the end of the historic 2026 FIFA World Cup, an event that featured 48 teams for the first time in the tournament’s history while also serving as the first occasion that three nations shared hosting duties.

For a completely amateur association football fan such as myself, it’d be hard to look at this tournament as anything other than a rousing success for the sport, with fans from across the world flooding Canadian, American and Mexican cities as instant classics and Cinderella stories took hold.

Of course, the slipper didn’t end up truly fitting for any of the tournament’s most notable underdogs, with past champions comprising the entire final four of this year’s World Cup, as Spain and Argentina battle in the final while England topped France to take home third place in the tournament.

While the inspiring stories of teams from Cabo Verde, Democratic Republic of Congo and Egypt captivated fans, plenty of attention has also been given to the Golden Boot race – particularly with this World Cup serving as the final forray for Cristiano Ronaldo and very likely Lionel Messi as well.

Although a Lionel Messi hat trick could foil things, France’s Kylian Mbappé is in line to win his second consecutive Golden Boot for the most goals scored at the tournament, having found the back of the net 10 times throughout the course of this year’s World Cup.

With the 2026 World Cup concluding Sunday, here’s a look at the history of the Golden Boot award:

1. 1930 Uruguay: Guillermo Stábile, Argentina, 8 goals
2. 1934 Italy: Oldřich Nejedlý, Czechoslovakia, 5 goals
3. 1938 France: Leônidas, Brazil, 7 goals
4. 1950 Brazil: Ademir, Brazil, 9 goals
5. 1954 Switzerland: Sándor Kocsis, Hungary, 11 goals
6. 1958 Sweden: Just Fontaine, France, 13 goals
7. 1962 Chile: Flórián Albert, Hungary; Valentin Ivanov, Soviet Union; Garrincha, Brazil; Vavá, Brazil; Dražan Jerković, Yugoslavia; Leonel Sánchez, Chile – 4 goals
8. 1966 England: Eusébio, Portugal, 9 goals
9. 1970 Mexico: Gerd Müller, West Germany, 10 goals
10. 1974 West Germany: Grzegorz Lato, Poland, 7 goals
11. 1978 Argentina: Mario Kempes, Argentina, 6 goals
12. 1982 Spain: Paolo Rossi, Italy, 6 goals
13. 1986 Mexico: Gary Lineker, England, 6 goals
14. 1990 Italy: Salvatore Schillaci, Italy, 6 goals
15. 1994 United States: Oleg Salenko, Russia; Hristo Stoichkov, Bulgaria – 6 goals
16. 1998 France: Davor Šuker, Croatia, 6 goals
17. 2002 South Korea/Japan: Ronaldo, Brazil, 8 goals
18. 2006 Germany: Miroslav Klose, Germany, 5 goals
19. 2010 South Africa: Thomas Müller, Germany, 5 goals
20. 2014 Brazil: James Rodríguez, Colombia, 6 goals
21. 2018 Russia: Harry Kane, England, 6 goals
22. 2022 Qatar: Kylian Mbappé, France, 8 goals
23. 2026 United States/Canada/Mexico: Kylian Mbappé, France, 10 goals