All Golden Boot winners in FIFA World Cup history
From Eusebio to Ronaldo and Gerd Muller to Kylian Mbappe, Some of the greatest goalscorers in world football have come away from a FIFA World Cup by winning the Golden Boot award as the top scorer in that particular tournament.
We break down all Golden Boot winners in FIFA World Cup history all the way back from 1930 to the present day. See the full list of top scorers below:
YEAR | TOP SCORER | NATION | GOAL SCORED |
|---|---|---|---|
2022 | Kylian Mbappe | France | 8 |
2018 | Harry Kane | England | 6 |
2014 | James Rodriguez | Colombia | 6 |
2010 | Thomas Muller | Germany | 5 |
2006 | Miroslav Klose | Germany | 5 |
2002 | Ronaldo | Brazil | 8 |
1998 | Davor Suker | Croatia | 6 |
1994 1994 | Oleg Salenko Hristo Stoichkov | Russia Bulgaria | 6 6 |
1990 | Salvatore Schillaci | Italy | 6 |
1986 | Gary Lineker | England | 6 |
1982 | Paolo Rossi | Italy | 6 |
1978 | Mario Kempes | Argentina | 6 |
1974 | Grzegorz Lato | Poland | 7 |
1970 | Gerd Muller | West Germany | 10 |
1966 | Eusebio | Portugal | 9 |
1962 1962 1962 1962 1962 1962 | Florian Albert Garrincha Valentin Ivanov Drazen Jerkovic Leonel Sanchez Vava | Hungary Brazil Russia Soviet Union Yugoslavia Brazil | 4 4 4 4 4 4 |
1958 | Just Fontaine | France | 13 |
1954 | Sandor Kocsis | Hungary | 11 |
1950 | Ademir | Brazil | 9 |
1938 | Leonidas | Brazil | 7 |
1934 | Oldrich Nejedly | Czechoslovakia | 5 |
1930 | Guillermo Stabile | Argentina | 8 |
Kylian Mbappe won the 2022 Golden Boot award in Qatar with eight goals for France. The Real Madrid striker will be gunning to become the first player ever to be the top scorer at back-to-back FIFA World Cups.
Four years prior, Harry Kane's six goals in Russia for England saw him win the 2018 FIFA World Cup Golden Boot and as it stands heading into the 2026 World Cup, only him and Mbappe among active players have the opportunity to become the first ever men's footballer to win two World Cup Golden Boot awards.
Argentina's Guillermo Stabile was the first ever footballer to finish as top goalscorer at the FIFA World Cup, doing so in 1930. Since then, the likes of Eusebio, Paolo Rossi, Gary Lineker, Ronaldo (R9) and Miroslav Klose have all achieved the feat.
1962 was the first time the award was shared, with six different players finishing on four goals, including Florian Albert of Hungary along with Brazilian duo Garrincha and Vava. The Golden Boot went on to be shared again in 1994, this time between two players. Oleg Salenko and Bulgarian legend Hristo Stoichkov each finished on six goals in the race for the 'Golden Shoe'.
