Erling Haaland had shot up to the top of the ‘Golden Boot’ race in FIFA World Cup 2026 after his two goals against Brazil in the pre-quarterfinals match.
Published: July 6, 2026, 2:34 PM IST
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Erling Haaland has joined Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi with 7 goals in FIFA World Cup 2026. (Image: AI)
FIFA World Cup 2026 Golden Boot race: The ‘Golden Boot’ race in the FIFA World Cup 2026 just hit boiling point with the knockouts stage hitting top gear on Sunday. After Sunday’s pre-quarterfinal fixtures, we have a three-way tie at the top of the ‘Golden Boot’ table – for the top goal-scorers in the tournament – as three football superstars are leading the race. Norway’s Erling Haaland has joining Frenchman Kylian Mbappe and Argentina’s Lionel Messi at the top of the ‘Golden Boot’ race with 7 goals after his twin strikes vs Brazil.
Haaland is currently in third place in the race although he has 7 goals currently – same as Mbappe and Messi. The France captain is at the number one position due to FIFA’s first tie-breaker which takes into account the a number of assists and Mbappe has a couple of them while Messi and Haaland have none.
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The Norway and Manchester City striker is still below the Argentina legend due to FIFA’s seconds tie-breakers – number of minutes played per goal. With Messi and Haaland not having any assists so far, Inter Miami superstar is just ahead because he has played only 361 minutes to score 7 goals as compared to Haaland’s 416 minutes.
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.
This is the first time in World Cup history that three different players have scored 7+ goals in a single edition of the tournament.
Harry Kane one behind Golden Boot leaders
England captain Harry Kane is also in touching distance of the Golden Boot leaders with six goals in the FIFA World Cup 2026 so far. Kane converted a penalty in England’s 3-1 win over Mexico in their pre-quarterfinals clash at the Estadio Azteca on Sunday.
Kane has six goals in the tournament so far with 1 assist in 489 minutes of play in the tournament.
Top 5 contenders for Golden Boot in FIFA World Cup 2026…
| Rank | Name | Country | Goals | Assists | Mins Played |
| 1 | Kylian Mbappe | France | 7 | 2 | 482 |
| 2 | Lionel Messi | Argentina | 7 | 0 | 361 |
| 3 | Erling Haaland | Norway | 7 | 0 | 416 |
| 4 | Harry Kane | England | 6 | 1 | 489 |
| 5 | Ousmane Dembele | France | 4 | 2 | 391 |
Haaland now has 62 goals for his country in only 54 matches while Mbappe has 63 goals in 103 matches for France. Mbappe was the ‘Golden Boot’ winner in the FIFA World Cup 2022 with 8 goals to his name.
But Erling Haaland already has as many goals in this tournament as Norway had in their entire World Cup history entering this year’s tournament.
