France’s Kylian Mbappe leapfrogs over Lionel Messi of Argentina in FIFA World Cup 2026 Golden Boot race with strike against Paraguay in Round of 16 match.
Updated: July 5, 2026, 8:49 AM IST
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FIFA World Cup 2026 Golden Boot race. (Image: AI)
Paraguay vs France FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 16: France captain Kylian Mbappe kept up his race with Argentina’s Lionel Messi in all-time goal-scorers table in FIFA World Cup and also moved to the top of the Golden Boot race in the 2026 edition after his match-winning goal in the Round 16 clash against Paraguay at the Lincoln Financial Field Stadium in Philadelphia.
Mbappe scored his 7th goal of the tournament and his 19th career World Cup strike to inch closer to Messi’s record. The Argentina legend is the all-time leading goal-scorer currently with 20 goals, after his strike against Cape Verde in the Round of 32 match on Saturday.
But the French skipper jumped to the top of the Golden Boot race even though Messi and Mbappe are both level on 7 goals each after 4 and 5 matches respectively. The reason for that is FIFA’s tie-breaker rules.
If football players are level on goals, the first tie-breaker will be number of assists and the second one will be number of minutes spent on the pitch (average efficiency).
Here are the rules for FIFA World Cup Golden Boot winners…
If multiple players finish with the same number of goals, FIFA has the following tie-breakers…
- Most assists: The player with the higher number of assists (determined by FIFA’s Technical Study Group) wins.
- Fewest minutes played: If assists are also equal, the award goes to the player who scored their goals in the fewest minutes on the pitch.
Mbappe has seven goals with two assists currently while Messi is yet to provide any assist in the tournament so far. The 2022 World Cup Golden Boot winner has found the back of the net in four of France’s five matches at the tournament. He began with a brace against Senegal before scoring doubling his tally in a 3-0 victory over Iraq during the group stages. The Real Madrid striker went goal-less against Norway where his teammate Ousmane Dembele scored a hat-trick but responded with another brace in the Round of 32 win over Sweden before adding the decisive penalty against Paraguay to take his tally to seven.
He also has 19 World Cup goals in just 19 matches, keeping him second place on the all-time men’s scoring list. Only Messi, with 20 goals from 30 World Cup matches, has scored more.
Norway’s Erling Haaland is in third place currently, level with 5 goals along side England’s Harry Kane. Haaland and Kane can add to their tallies on Sunday as they face Brazil and Mexico respectively in FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 16 matches.
FIFA World Cup 2026 Golden Boot Standing after France vs Paraguay Round of 16 match…
| Rank | Player | Team | Goals | Assists | Minutes Played |
| 1 | Kylian Mbappe | France | 7 | 2 | 481 |
| 2 | Lionel Messi | Argentina | 7 | 0 | 361 |
| 3 | Erling Haaland | Norway | 5 | 0 | 309 |
| 4 | Harry Kane | England | 5 | 0 | 394 |
| 5 | Ousmane Dembele | France | 4 | 2 | 391 |
| 6 | Mikel Oyarzabal | Spain | 4 | 1 | 333 |
| 7 | Vinicius Junior | Brazil | 4 | 1 | 398 |
| 8 | Ismaila Sarr | Senegal | 4 | 1 | 419 |
Harry Kane was the Golden Boot winner in the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia while Colombia’s James Rodriguez won the honour in 2014 edition.
Here are the last 5 FIFA World Cup 2026 Golden Boot winners…
| World Cup | Winner | Country | Goals |
| 2022 (Qatar) | Kylian Mbappé | France | 8 |
| 2018 (Russia) | Harry Kane | England | 6 |
| 2014 (Brazil) | James Rodríguez | Colombia | 6 |
| 2010 (South Africa) | Thomas Müller | Germany | 5 |
| 2006 (Germany) | Miroslav Klose | Germany | 5 |
Mbappe’s penalty also marked France’s 150th goal in FIFA World Cup history, while the Real Madrid striker his record as the tournament’s leading knockout-stage scorer with 11 goals.
