Kylian Mbappé won the Golden Boot of the 2026 World Cup this Sunday, finishing with 10 goals, two more than Lionel Messi, and he concluded as the all-time top scorer of the tournaments, with 22 goals over three editions, a figure never before reached by any other player.
The Argentine finished the tournament with eight goals and was unable to reduce the gap in the final, where Spain defeated Argentina 1-0 in extra time.
Mbappé's historic record was achieved on Saturday at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, during the third-place match against England.
The French forward scored in the 48th and 66th minutes to complete a brace that, although it did not prevent France's defeat by 6-4, allowed him to pull ahead of Messi and practically secured the Golden Boot, confirmed after this Sunday's final.
With his 10 goals in this edition, Mbappé became the fourth player in history to score at least a dozen goals in a single World Cup.
The exclusive list is completed by the French Just Fontaine (13 goals in 1958), the Hungarian Sándor Kocsis (11 in 1954), and the German Gerd Müller (10 in 1970).
The historic record of Mbappé was built over three tournaments: four goals in Russia 2018, eight in Qatar 2022 —where he won his first Golden Boot— and 10 in the 2026 World Cup.
With this result, he became the first footballer to win the award in two consecutive editions.
Behind Mbappé and Messi in the scoring ranking are Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham, each with seven goals, followed by Harry Kane and Ousmane Dembélé, both with six.
The tournament also set other notable individual records: Kane surpassed Gary Lineker as England's all-time top scorer in World Cup history; Bellingham established the record for the most goals scored by an English player in a single edition; and Haaland became, after just two matches, Norway's all-time top scorer in the competition.
Cristiano Ronaldo, with three goals in the tournament, became the first footballer to score in six different World Cups. Additionally, he matched Messi in the record for the most editions played, with six each.
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