FIFA World Cup Golden Boot race: Canada’s Jonathan David joins Messi with 3 goals

Canadian Jonathan David scored a historic hat-trick against Qatar in the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2026 on Thursday (June 18) to join Argentina legend Lionel Messi at the top of the goal scorers’ list in the race for the coveted Golden Boot. It was the co-hosts’ first-ever win at the topmost platform of the game as they hammered Qatar 6-0 in a Group B fixture in Vancouver. The win put Canada at the top of the points table in the group, leading Switzerland by virtue of a better goal difference.

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The 26-year-old forward’s feat in his second game of the tournament came just days after Messi became the oldest player at 38 to register a hat-trick in the World Cup, which came against Algeria in Kansas City, Missouri. Messi, who led his side to the crown in 2022, is appearing in his sixth World Cup and is the joint top scorer with a tally of 16, along with Germany’s Miroslav Klose.

Two goals: Nine players so far

Nine players have scored two goals so far, including Kylian Mbappe (France), Harry Kane (England), Kai Havertz (Germany), Erling Haaland (Norway), Elijah Just (New Zealand), Yasin Ayari (Sweden), Johan Manzambi (Switzerland), Folarin Bolagun (United States) and Cyle Larin (Canada). Larin has scored his braces in two appearances, while the rest have in one outing.

One goal: 56 names so far

Fifty-six people have scored one goal so far. They are:

Nestory Irankunda and Connor Metcalfe (Australia)
Marko Arnautović and Romano Schmid (Austria)
Jovo Lukić and Ermin Mahmić (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Vinícius Júnior (Brazil)
Livano Comenencia (Curacao)
Nathan Saliba (Canada)
Teboho Mokoena (South Africa)
Ladislav Krejčí and Michal Sadílek (Czech Republic)
Emam Ashour (Egypt)
Bradley Barcola (France)
Nathaniel Brown, Jamal Musiala, Felix Nmecha, Nico Schlotterbeck and Deniz Undav (Germany)
Mohammad Mohebi and Ramin Rezaeian (Iran)
Aymen Hussein (Iraq)
Amad Diallo (Ivory Coast)
Daichi Kamada and Keito Nakamura (Japan)
Ali Olwan (Jordan)
Raúl Jiménez, Julián Quiñones and Luis Romo (Mexico)
Ismael Saibari (Morocco)
Virgil van Dijk and Crysencio Summerville (Netherlands)
Leo Østigård (Norway)
Mauritius (Paraguay)
Abdulelah Al-Amri (Saudi Arabia)
John McGinn (Scotland)
Ibrahim Mbaye (Senegal)
Hwang In-beom and Oh Hyeon-gyu (South Korea)
Viktor Gyökeres, Alexander Isak and Mattias Svanberg (Sweden)
Breel Embolo, Rubén Vargas and Granit Xhaka (Switzerland)
Omar Rekik (Tunisia)
Giovanni Reyna (US)
Maximiliano Araújo (Uruguay)
Abbasbek Faizullaev (Uzbekistan)
John Wissa (DR Congo)
Jaminton Campaz, Luis Díaz and Daniel Muñoz (Colombia)
Martin Baturina and Petar Musa (Croatia)
João Neves (Portugal)

Past records: Just Fontaine slammed 13 in one edition

Twenty-eight players in all bagged the honours of scoring the most goals in a single edition of the World Cup. The name ‘Golden Boot’ first came into use in 1982. It was first called the Golden Shoe Award and got its current name in 2010. However, top scorers of every tournament are retroactively recognised as winners of the crown.

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Here are the names of the top scorers of all World Cups since its inception in 1930:

1930, Uruguay: Guillermo Stabile (Argentina) Goals scored (GS): 8

1934, Italy: Oldrich Nejedly (formerly Czechoslovakia) GS: 5

1938, France: Leonidas (Brazil) GS: 7

1950, Brazil: Ademir (Brazil) GS: 9

1954, Switzerland: Sandor Kocsis (Hungary) GS: 11

1958, Sweden: Just Fontaine (France) GS: 13

1962, Chile: Florian Albert (Hungary), Valentin Ivanov (Soviet Union), Garrincha (Brazil), Vava (Brazil), Drazan Jerkovic (Yugoslavia) and Leonel Sanchez (Chile) GS: 4

1966, England: Eusebio (Portugal) GS: 9

1970, Mexico: Gerd Muller (Germany) GS: 10

1974, West Germany: Grzegorz Lato (Poland) GS: 7

1978, Argentina: Mario Kempes (Argentina) GS: 6

1982, Spain: Paolo Rossi (Italy) GS: 6

1986, Mexico: Gary Lineker (England) GS: 6

1990, Italy: Salvatore Schillaci (Italy) GS: 6

1994, USA: Oleg Salenko (Russia) Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria) GS: 6 each

1998, France: Davor Suker (Croatia) GS: 6

2002, South Korea/Japan: Ronaldo (Brazil) GS: 8

2006, Germany: Miroslav Klose (Germany) GS: 5

2010, South Africa: Thomas Muller (Germany) GS: 5

2014, Brazil: James Rodríguez (Colombia) GS: 6

2018, Russia: Harry Kane (England) GS: 6

2022, Qatar: Kylian Mbappe (France) GS: 8