The race for the 2026 World Cup Golden Boot has begun, and the list is largely littered with the usual suspects.
The World Cup, make no mistake, shapes a player's legacy, provided they possess a squad that can't be used as a viable excuse to justify underperformance.
As the group stage continues, these are the contenders for the award, and a list of players who, even if they haven't gotten off to the most prolific start, remain firmly in contention.
Who is going to win the 2026 World Cup Golden Boot?
Leading the race are players who have won the Golden Boot for their club at league level, on the European stage, and even previously at the World Cup.
And what sort of list would this be without the greatest football player of all time at the forefront of it? The one, the only, the man with nothing left to prove who still plays like he does: Lionel Messi.
Lionel Messi (Argentina - 6 goals)
Lionel Messi opened his 2026 World Cup campaign with a hat-trick against Algeria, scoring two glorious long range efforts to start and conclude the feat.
Despite his age, fans may have suspected that Messi would do this at the tournament - now relieved of the burdensome pressure that plagued him his entire career.
The lack of a World Cup victory, back when Cristiano Ronaldo's name was still floated in debates with him, was often used against the Argentine's GOAT claim, but no more.
With his historic 2022 run placing the final cherry on top of Messi's near perfect career, 2026 could be the World Cup version of him playing with the shackles off, and finally winning the Boot.
Messi added to his goals with a record-breaking brace against Austria, bagging his 17th and 18th strikes in the tournament's history to put him top of the World Cup's all-time goalscoring charts.
The Argentine then scored a free-kick in a substitute appearance vs Jordan, putting him two strikes clear of his closest competitors.
Kylian Mbappe (France - 4 goals)
Perhaps conversely to others on this list, Kylian Mbappe is a man for the big occasion.
The Frenchman's goalscoring only appears to improve the bigger the occasion, so an opening game brace bodes extremely well for his Golden Boot chances.
Mbappe pipped Messi, despite losing the World Cup final, to the award in 2022, with a hat-trick in the last game.
The Real Madrid star is the first player in history to have bagged four World Cup final goals, and France look dangerously capable of making a third successive appearance in the event.
With four goals in his opening two appearances at the 2026 edition of the World Cup, there is a fierce two-horse race opening up.
Erling Haaland (Norway - 4 goals)
Erling Haaland opened his World Cup account with two goals in his opening game against Iraq.
The Manchester City striker announced himself on the World Cup stage with his first goal just before the half hour mark and then doubled his tally just before half time.
In Norway's second game against Senegal he again bagged another two goals at the New York New Jersey Stadium - this time his two goals came in the second half to put him firmly in the race for the Golden Boot.
Vinicius Junior (Brazil - 4 goals)
Vinicius Junior sits on four goals, after scoring in each of his group fixtures vs Scotland, Haiti and Morocco.
While the crafty Brazilian is perhaps more known for his flair and trickery, his goalscoring is often underrated.
With Vinicius, the bigger the moment, the more likely it seems he is to score — having popped up in many of Real Madrid's greatest Champions League moments since he joined the side.
The Galactico has bagged twice in two final appearances in the competition, and remains a man for the biggest of occasions.
After capitalising on a calamitous Scotland error to open the scoring for Brazil, he popped up again with a diving back-post header, and fired his Golden Boot chances sky-high in the process.
Ousmane Dembele (France - 4 goals)
Ousmane Dembele jumped from one goal to four with a spectacular first-half hat-trick in France's Group I decider against a much changed Norway team.
All three goals were finished beautifully and added to his tally soon after his long wait for a major tournament goal finally came to an end.
The Ballon d'Or winner's first four goals of World Cup 2026 were scored in the equivalent of an hour's worth of football.
Harry Kane (England - 3 goals)
Harry Kane became England's record World Cup goalscorer, surpassing Gary Lineker, with his header against Panama.
The Bayern Munich striker has notched 11 goals at World Cups, three of which have come at this tournament so far.
Kane, unlike Messi, already has a World Cup Golden Boot to his name, even if it's one of the weakest in recent memory.
In 2018, Kane took home the award with six goals — an opening game brace against Tunisia, two penalties and a deflected goal against Panama, and a penalty against Colombia.
Matheus Cunha (Brazil - 3 goals)
Manchester United's Matheus Cunha scored Brazil's third goal against Scotland in Group C and it was his third of the World Cup after two against Haiti in the previous game.
With teammate Vini Jr firing on all cylinders and scoring freely, Cunha has been able to convert his pressing and poaching into three goals he'll never forget.
Ismael Saibari (Morocco - 3 goals)
One goal against Brazil. One goal against Scotland. One goal against Haiti.
Morocco's Ismael Saibari achieved a perfect Group C hat-trick of sorts, lifting his excellent first of the tournament over Alisson in the opening group game and smashing the second beyond Angus Gunn.
Johan Manzambi (Switzerland - 3 goals)
Fresh from an eye-catching season in Freiburg's run to the Europa League final, Switzerland's Johan Manzambi has scored his way into Murat Yakin's best starting 11 with three goals in the World Cup group stage.
The 20-year-old scored twice to help break the deadlock against Bosnia and Herzegovina before grabbing a crucial second goal for the Swiss in their win against Canada in Vancouver.
Brian Brobbey (Netherlands - 3 goals)
Sunderland striker Brian Brobbey has benefited from being an attacking focal point for a mobile Netherlands side.
He scored twice in a Dutch demolition of Sweden in the second group stage game, adding a third early in the comfortable win against Tunisia that confirmed Ronald Koeman's team at the top of their group.
Jonathan David (Canada - 3 goals)
Canada recorded an historic World Cup victory on Thursday evening, not least because it was the country's first.
The Canucks saw off nine-man Qatar by six goals to nil, prompting head coach Jesse Marsch to celebrate by putting six fingers in the air.
Three of those goals had come from Brooklyn-born attacker Jonathan David, who moved level with Messi thanks to his hat-trick.
While the game in question was marred by a serious injury to Ismael Kone, Canadians will look back fondly upon the match due to magnitude and significance of the victory.
It now means the co-hosts are likely to play in the knockout rounds for the first time at the World Cup Finals.
Deniz Undav (Germany - 3 goals)
There's been a little bit of patronising going on from the UK media, who remember Deniz Undav primarily from his short and unproductive at Brighton and Hove Albion.
Undav did after all finish as the second-highest scorer in the Bundesliga last season behind only Harry Kane, chipping in with 19 goals for Stuttgart to help fire the side to Champions League qualification.
The striker had also found form for his country, scoring against Ghana in a friendly in March and putting away a brace against Finland in the immediate run-up to the tournament.
A goal from the bench in a 7-1 win over Curacao was almost mandatory, but Undav's double against the Ivory Coast completely turned the game around in a 2-1 comeback victory. The question for Julian Nagelsmann now: put him in from the start, or continue to lean on Undav's new-found super-sub status?
Ismaila Sarr (Senegal - 3 goals)
A goal against depleted Iraq in Senegal's final group game took Ismaila Sarr to three goals for the tournament and helped his team gain a real chance to go through to the round of 32 with three points.
He scored twice in the second half in defeat against Norway, a loss whose small margin might yet prove crucial.
Yoane Wissa (DR Congo - 3 goals)
Yoane Wissa is also scoring a goal a game at the 2026 World Cup, ahead of DR Congo's Round of 32 clash vs England.
The Newcastle man bagged in his nation's 1-1 opening draw vs Portugal, frustrating the Cristiano Ronaldo-led side.
He then bagged a brace in a 3-1 victory against Uzbekistan, securing knockout football for his side.
Who are the other contenders?
Elsewhere, Kai Havertz, who bagged a brace for Germany in their 7-1 demolition of Curacao, stands an outside chance, but, like Vinicius Jr, will probably only do so if his national side progress to later stages.
The German is not known primarily for being a goalscorer, but he is a man for the biggest of occasions, having scored twice in two Champions League finals, and could repeat his heroics here.
Spain's Mikel Oyarzabal was absent from the scoresheet in his side's opening game, but made up for lost time by scoring twice against Saudi Arabia.
Brobbey's Netherlands teammate Cody Gakpo matched that against Sweden, with Crysencio Summerville also getting his second game of the tournament.
There have also been braces scored by Elijah Just (New Zealand), Ayase Ueda (Japan) and Yasin Ayari (Sweden), if you're feeling especially bold and willing to back an outside horse.
Egypt's Mohamed Salah, although not the goalscoring titan he once was, could face an Iran, to Czechia, to USA run with Egypt in the tournament, after finishing second in the Africa Cup of Nations' goalscoring charts earlier this year.
With one goal and two assists already, if he can deliver very strong outings in those favourable fixtures, he stands a slim but possible chance.
Mexico's Julian Quinones stands an even better chance, having bagged a remarkable 33 Saudi Pro League goals last season.
It feels likely that if any of the co-hosts are to make a surprisingly deep run in the tournament, the Mexicans will be the ones to do it.
The Al-Qadsiah man is currently on two goals.
Race for the Golden Boot
6 goals
- Lionel Messi (Argentina)
4 goals
- Kylian Mbappe (France)
- Ousmane Dembele (France)
- Erling Haaland (Norway)
- Vinicius Junior (Brazil)
3 goals
- Harry Kane (England)
- Yoane Wissa (DR Congo)
- Jonathan David (Canada )
- Deniz Undav (Germany)
- Matheus Cunha (Brazil)
- Ismaila Sarr (Senegal)
- Ismael Saibari (Morocco)
- Brian Brobbey (Netherlands)
- Johan Manzambi (Switzerland)
- Elijah Just (New Zealand)
