The World Cup Golden Boot goes to the top scorer of each tournament, and the most recent winner is France’s Kylian Mbappé, who netted 8 goals at Qatar 2022 — edging Lionel Messi’s 7 as Argentina took the title.
The all-time single-tournament record still belongs to France’s Just Fontaine, whose 13 goals in 1958 have never been approached. The award was officially introduced as the “Golden Shoe” in 1982 (won first by Italy’s Paolo Rossi) and renamed the Golden Boot in 2010, though FIFA recognizes top scorers all the way back to 1930. Below is the complete year-by-year list of winners, plus the records that define the award.
The all-time records
Just Fontaine’s 13 goals in a single World Cup is one of the sport’s most untouchable records — no player since has come within two of it, and the modern game’s tighter defenses and shorter scoring windows make it look safer every tournament.
Behind him, Hungary’s Sándor Kocsis (11 in 1954) and West Germany’s Gerd Müller (10 in 1970) are the only others in double figures. Müller also holds a unique distinction as the only man to win both the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball in the same year. The career scoring crown belongs to Germany’s Miroslav Klose, who scored 16 across four tournaments from 2002 to 2014, passing Ronaldo’s mark in the 2014 semifinal.
The quirks and the doubles
A few Golden Boot stories stand out. Oleg Salenko remains the only winner whose team was knocked out in the group stage — he shared the 1994 award with Bulgaria’s Hristo Stoichkov after a five-goal game against Cameroon.
The rarest feat is winning the scoring title and the trophy in the same year, a double achieved by Mario Kempes (1978), Paolo Rossi (1982), and Ronaldo (2002), among the small group who carried their nations while leading the tournament in goals. Recent winners have come from across the globe — England’s Harry Kane (2018), Colombia’s James Rodríguez (2014), and Germany’s Thomas Müller and Miroslav Klose — reflecting how the award has spread beyond the traditional powers.
The takeaway
Kylian Mbappé is the reigning World Cup Golden Boot winner after his 8 goals at Qatar 2022, while Just Fontaine’s 13 in 1958 remains the single-tournament record and Miroslav Klose’s 16 is the all-time career mark.
The award has crowned scorers since 1930 and been given officially since 1982. With the 2026 World Cup underway across the United States, Canada, and Mexico — and Mbappé the pre-tournament favorite to repeat — a new name is about to be added to one of football’s most storied individual honors.