Golden Boot race: Mbappe beats Messi to prize

Kylian Mbappe won the 2026 World Cup Golden Boot with 10 goals, finishing two clear of Lionel Messi.

The Argentina great was unable to respond to Mbappe's two goals in France's 6-4 defeat to England in the third-place play-off on Saturday, drawing a blank as Spain won Sunday's World Cup final 1-0.

Mbappe is also the World Cup's all-time top scorer with 22.

Messi ended the tournament with eight goals. Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham scored seven, while Harry Kane scored six.

How the race for the Golden Boot ended...

How the record tumbled

Miroslav Klose started the tournament out in front on the all-time World Cup goalscoring chart with 16 goals, but both Messi and Mbappe overtook the ex-Germany striker .

Haaland became Norway's leading goalscorer at World Cups after just two games. Kane went past Gary Lineker as England's top World Cup scorer, while Bellingham's total of seven was the most by an England player at a single World Cup.

Golden Boot contenders have been targeting Just Fontaine's 1958 record of 13 goals in a single tournament.

Mbappe became only the fourth player in World Cup history after Fontaine, Germany's Gerd Muller in 1970 and Hungary's Sandor Kocsis in 1954 to hit double figures at a single tournament.

What other records have been broken?

Most World Cup tournaments played: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo (six each)

First player to score in six World Cups: Cristiano Ronaldo

Oldest player to score multiple goals in a game: Cristiano Ronaldo

Smallest nation to appear at a World Cup: Curacao

Most red cards in an opening match: Mexico vs South Africa (three)

Most-attended World Cup

Highest-scoring World Cup