World Cup 2026 Golden Boot: Messi, Mbappe, Haaland and Ken in race for the ages – who will win?

The record for the game’s most feared forwards has been falling since day one.

Messi now holds many titles at the top of the all-time World Cup list and rightly so.

But he is not the only one who has set records in this tournament.

Mbappe now tops France’s goalscoring charts, Haaland is Norway’s leading World Cup scorer – after just two matches – while Kane has equaled Gary Lineker’s World Cup record for England.

And they will all have their eyes on France’s Just Fontaine’s 1958 tournament record of 13 goals.

Only three players – Fontaine, Gerd Müller for Germany in 1970 and Sándor Kocsis of Hungary in 1954 – have reached double figures in a single World Cup.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if that list goes up by the end of this tournament.

The new 48-team format certainly seems to have increased the chances of goals. Along with more low-ranked teams, the world’s best attackers have thrived.

World Cup winners will also have to play one more round than before – again increasing the chance of goals.

Former France defender Gael Clichy told BBC Sport: “Kylian Mbappe is part of the generation that (has) the fearless factor.

“I remember when I started, when you came in you had to respect the older generation, and you weren’t trying to nutmeg the old people.

“This generation, they have respect, but in a different way. Don’t talk about age, talk about performance.”

So, back to the small matter of the race for the Golden Boot.

“It’s not something I’m thinking about right now,” Mbappe said. “Leo always scores goals. He always is and always will be.

“If I start watching him, I think I have to do more, so no, I don’t see what he’s doing. I’m just thinking about helping my team – by helping the team, I score goals and get closer to that level.”

Norway boss Stel Solbakken has, perhaps unsurprisingly, pushed Haaland’s cause.

“He’s the best striker – he doesn’t play for France or Argentina, he scores for Norway. He’s scored four goals now, two braces on the biggest stage,” he said.

“It’s easy to win the Golden Boot when you play for France and Argentina, but we’ll try to give Erling more games and help more in the next games. So he’s on fire and I’m very happy for him that he can score on the biggest stage.”

USA striker Folarin Balogun has had a decent start to the tournament with two goals in his first two matches.

But he probably put it best, when he joked: “I think it’s boring. Watching players like Messi, Mbappe, Haaland – they’re so inevitable. I think they’re scoring one goal a game, sometimes more.

“For me, it’s just trying to get to that level – as well as being inevitable.”