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The 2026 World Cup is experiencing one of the most competitive races for the top scorer in its history: Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, and Erling Haaland are tied at the top of the with seven goals each, while Harry Kane is close behind in fourth place with six.
The main protagonist of the match was the Norwegian, who scored a double in the 79th and 90th minutes to achieve the historic victory of Norway 2-1 over Brazil in the round of 16, held at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 5.
With that double, the Manchester City forward completed a scoring run of seven goals in the tournament: two against Iraq, two against Senegal, one against Ivory Coast, and the two decisive ones against Brazil.
Norway advances to the quarterfinals for the first time since France 1998, 28 years ago, after eliminating the Brazilian national team.
Messi, for his part, has scored seven goals in just four matches: a hat-trick against Algeria, a double against Austria, and one goal in each of the matches against Jordan and Cape Verde in the round of sixteen.
The Argentine captain has the advantage of having played one match less than Mbappé, which benefits him in the tie-breaking criterion of minutes played that FIFA applies in the event of a final tie.
Argentina faces Egypt this Tuesday in the Round of 16 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, providing Messi with another chance to add to his tally.
Mbappé is the only one of the three leaders who has played five matches. The Frenchman reached seven goals thanks to doubles against Senegal, Iraq, and Sweden, plus the penalty he converted against Paraguay in the round of 16 on July 4 in Philadelphia.
France advances to the quarter-finals, where they will face Morocco, and Mbappé also boasts two assists, an important statistic since that is the first tiebreaker criterion used by FIFA if the three contenders finish with the same number of goals.
Kane completes the podium of top scorers with six goals: two against Croatia, one against Panama, a brace against the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and one versus Mexico in the quarter-finals.
Ismaïla Sarr, Mikel Oyarzabal, Vinícius Júnior, and Ousmane Dembélé are all tied with four goals.
Sarr and Vinícius will no longer be able to add to their tally following the eliminations of Senegal and Brazil, while Oyarzabal, with Spain, and Dembélé, with France, remain in the competition and keep their chances alive to contend for the tournament's top scorer trophy.
According to the official goal scorer table of the 2026 World Cup, the three-way tie with seven goals, with the quarter-finals still to be played, makes this edition one of the most uncertain in recent history: in Qatar 2022, Mbappé won the Golden Boot with eight goals, and in Russia 2018, Kane took it home with six.
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