FIFA World Cup 2026 Golden Boot: How Lionel Messi climbed to top of table above Kylian Mbappe without scoring a goal vs England

Argentina’s Lionel Messi has leap-frogged over Kylian Mbappe in the FIFA World Cup 2026 Golden Boot race after his side’s 2-1 win over England in semifinal in Atlanta.

Published: July 16, 2026, 12:52 PM IST

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FIFA World Cup 2026 Golden Boot race after Argentina vs England semifinal. (Image: AI)

Argentina vs England FIFA World Cup 2026: Argentina captain Lionel Messi put on another sublime show to lift the defending champions into a second successive final with a 2-1 win over England in the FIFA World Cup 2026 semifinal at the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Wednesday. While Messi failed to add to his tally of 8 goals in the tournament, he managed to provide two sublime assists to the goal scorers Enzo Fernandes and Lautaro Martinez to set up a comeback win for Albiceleste and book a final date with Spain on Sunday.

Messi’s two assists also helped him leapfrog over France captain Kylian Mbappe to the head of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Golden Boot race. While Messi and Mbappe both have 8 goals each in the tournament, but the Argentina legend now has more assists as compared to the Frenchman – 4 to 3.

But Mbappe will have the opportunity to stay in hunt to become the first-ever footballer to win back-to-back Golden Boot as France get ready to take on England in the third-place Playoffs match in Miami on Saturday. Messi, who will be playing in his third World Cup final, will also have the opportunity to extend his lead on Sunday.

“It hurts whoever it hurts… We’ve been the best for the last four years, whether people like it or not, no matter what they say. Once again, we’re among the two best in the world, and that shows that everything we’ve done isn’t by chance and nobody gave us anything. Reaching two consecutive World Cup finals is something few achieve, and this group did it,” Messi was quoted as saying after the match.

FIFA has some stringent tie-breaker rules when if two or more footballers have scored the same number of goals in the Golden Boot race.

FIFA tie-breaker rules in Golden Boot race…

If two or more football players are tied with same number of goals then the leader will be…

1. Most assists: The player with the higher number of assists (determined by FIFA’s Technical Study Group) wins.
2. 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.

Messi dedicated the FIFA World Cup 2026 semifinal win over England to legendary Diego Maradona, who had infamously scored the ‘Hand of God’ goal against the Englishmen in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal in Mexico City.

“Without a doubt, Diego is enjoying this immensely from up there because today was a very special day for him; to be able to give him this joy and for him to experience it however he wants from up there. Let him enjoy it because it’s a gift for him too,” Messi said.

Here are the FIFA World Cup 2026 Golden Boot leaders after semifinals…

Two other football stars can potentially overtake both Messi and Mbappe and pip them in the Golden Boot race. England duo of Jude Bellingham and Harry are in 4th and 5th place with 6 goals and 1 assist. A hat-trick for either one of the two football stars can help them leapfrog over Messi and Mbappe.

Last 5 winners of FIFA World Cup Golden Boot

While Mbappe is looking to become the first man to win successive Golden Boot titles, England captain Kane is also in race to win the crown for the second time after claiming it in 2018 World Cup in Russia.