France forward Kylian Mbappe has become the first player in history to win the FIFA World Cup Golden Boot twice after finishing as the top scorer at the 2026 tournament.
The 27-year-old scored 10 goals in eight matches to beat Argentina captain Lionel Messi to the award, having also claimed the Golden Boot at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with eight goals.
According to the BBC, the Real Madrid forward is the first player to win the tournament’s top scorer prize at consecutive World Cups.
His 10-goal haul also made him the first player to reach double figures in a single men’s World Cup since West Germany’s Gerd Muller scored 10 goals in 1970. Only France’s Just Fontaine (13 goals in 1958) and Hungary’s Sandor Kocsis (11 goals in 1954) have scored more in a single edition of the tournament.
The Real Madrid forward also moved to the top of the men’s World Cup all-time scoring chart with 22 goals, one ahead of Messi.
Mbappe overtook the Argentine after scoring twice in France’s third-place play-off against England. However, his brace was not enough to prevent France from suffering a 6-4 defeat, leaving Didier Deschamps’ side in fourth place.
His goals came across every stage of the competition, with braces against Senegal and Iraq in the group stage, another against Sweden in the round of 32, a penalty winner against Paraguay in the round of 16, and a strike against Morocco in the quarter-finals.
Messi entered Sunday’s World Cup final with the chance to overtake Mbappe if he scored a hat-trick. However, the 39-year-old failed to find the net as Argentina lost 1-0 to Spain in New Jersey, finishing the tournament with eight goals in eight matches.
England midfielder Jude Bellingham and Norway striker Erling Haaland finished with seven goals each, while France’s Ousmane Dembele and England captain Harry Kane scored six apiece.
Meanwhile, Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon was named the winner of the Golden Glove award after an outstanding tournament.
The Athletic Club goalkeeper conceded just one goal in eight matches and kept seven clean sheets, with Belgium’s Charles De Ketelaere the only player to beat him throughout the competition.
Simon, 29, was preferred to Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya as Spain’s first-choice goalkeeper and justified manager Luis de la Fuente’s decision with a series of commanding performances as Spain lifted the World Cup trophy.
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