- 8 hours ago
World Cup 2022 top scorers: Mbappe wins Golden Boot with final hattrick
Carlo Garganese
- Updated: 18 Dec 2022 18:12 GMT
- 7 min read
Kylian Mbappe won the World Cup 2022 Golden Boot with eight goals, beating Lionel Messi to the prize after a thrilling World Cup final.
Mbappe became the first player since 1966 to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final in a thrilling 3-3 draw after extra time, which Argentina eventually won 4-2 on penalties.
That treble took him on to eight goals for the tournament, one more than Messi.
Messi scored twice himself in the final, once with a penalty and then again in extra time.
Julian Alvarez and Olivier Giroud finished on four goals, with neither making a mark on the final.
A group of seven players, including Cody Gakpo, Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Goncalo Ramos all ended on three goals.
On Saturday, the third-placed playoff between Croatia and Morocco saw the European side run out 2-1 winners. All the scorers in the game had previously drawn a blank in the competition.
Josko Gvardiol, whose performances have made him a target for some major clubs, headed the opener only for it to be cancelled out by Achraf Dari. Dynamo Kyiv's Mislav Orsic scored a brilliant winner with a shot from a tight angle.
World Cup 2022: Teams, fixtures, results, favourites
World Cup all-time top scorers
Ronaldo vs Messi at the World Cup: How their stats, goals, assists and performances compare
Who won the 2022 World Cup Golden Boot?
The final Golden Boot standings in Qatar are as follows:
Most goals in World Cup 2022
| Player | Nation | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| Kylian Mbappe | France | 8 |
| Lionel Messi | Argentina | 7 |
| Julian Alvarez | Argentina | 4 |
| Olivier Giroud | France | 4 |
| Goncalo Ramos | Portugal | 3 |
| Alvaro Morata | Spain | 3 |
| Marcus Rashford | England | 3 |
| Bukayo Saka | England | 3 |
| Enner Valencia | Ecuador | 3 |
| Richarlison | Brazil | 3 |
| Cody Gakpo | Netherlands | 3 |
| Harry Kane | England | 2 |
| Rafael Leao | Portugal | 2 |
| Breel Embolo | Switzerland | 2 |
| Vincent Aboubakar | Cameroon | 2 |
| Aleksandar Mitrovic | Serbia | 2 |
| Giorgian de Arrascaeta | Uruguay | 2 |
| Neymar | Brazil | 2 |
| Ritsu Doan | Japan | 2 |
| Ferran Torres | Spain | 2 |
| Niclas Fullkrug | Germany | 2 |
| Mehdi Taremi | Iran | 2 |
| Andrej Kramaric | Croatia | 2 |
| Mohammed Kudus | Ghana | 2 |
| Cho Gue-sung | South Korea | 2 |
| Salem Al Dawsari | Saudi Arabia | 2 |
| Wout Weghorst | Netherlands | 2 |
| Youssef En-Nesyri | Morocco | 2 |
| Nahuel Molina | Argentina | 1 |
| Pepe | Portugal | 1 |
| Raphael Guerreiro | Portugal | 1 |
| Memphis Depay | Netherlands | 1 |
| Daley Blind | Netherlands | 1 |
| Denzel Dumfries | Netherlands | 1 |
| Haji Wright | USA | 1 |
| Xherdan Shaqiri | Switzerland | 1 |
| Remo Freuler | Switzerland | 1 |
| Hwang Hee-chan | South Korea | 1 |
| Kim Young-gwon | South Korea | 1 |
| Lucas Paqueta | Brazil | 1 |
| Vinicius Jr | Brazil | 1 |
| Dusan Vlahovic | Serbia | 1 |
| Ricardo Horta | Portugal | 1 |
| Phil Foden | England | 1 |
| Jordan Henderson | England | 1 |
| Daizen Maeda | Japan | 1 |
| Paik Seung-Ho | South Korea | 1 |
| Ivan Perisic | Croatia | 1 |
| Robert Lewandowski | Poland | 1 |
| Piotr Zielinski | Poland | 1 |
| Mitchell Duke | Australia | 1 |
| Mathew Leckie | Australia | 1 |
| Dani Olmo | Spain | 1 |
| Marco Asensio | Spain | 1 |
| Gavi | Spain | 1 |
| Carlos Soler | Spain | 1 |
| Alexis MacAllister | Argentina | 1 |
| Enzo Fernandez | Argentina | 1 |
| Michy Batshuayi | Belgium | 1 |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | Portugal | 1 |
| Casemiro | Brazil | 1 |
| Joao Felix | Portugal | 1 |
| Ao Tanaka | Japan | 1 |
| Andre Ayew | Ghana | 1 |
| Osman Bukari | Ghana | 1 |
| Adrien Rabiot | France | 1 |
| Craig Goodwin | Australia | 1 |
| Gareth Bale | Wales | 1 |
| Timothy Weah | USA | 1 |
| Davy Klaassen | Netherlands | 1 |
| Serge Gnabry | Germany | 1 |
| Frenkie de Jong | Netherlands | 1 |
| Jude Bellingham | England | 1 |
| Raheem Sterling | England | 1 |
| Jack Grealish | England | 1 |
| Christian Pulisic | USA | 1 |
| Moises Caicedo | Ecuador | 1 |
| Saleh Al-Shehri | Saudi Arabia | 1 |
| Ilkay Gundogan | Germany | 1 |
| Rouzbeh Cheshmi | Iran | 1 |
| Ramin Rezaeian | Iran | 1 |
| Boulaye Dia | Senegal | 1 |
| Famara Diedhou | Senegal | 1 |
| Ismaila Sarr | Senegal | 1 |
| Kalidou Koulibaly | Senegal | 1 |
| Mohamed Salisu | Ghana | 1 |
| Sergej Milinkovic-Savic | Serbia | 1 |
| Strahinja Pavlovic | Serbia | 1 |
| Eric Maxim Chupo-Moting | Cameroon | 1 |
| Jean-Charles Castelletto | Cameroon | 1 |
| Bamba Dieng | Senegal | 1 |
| Mohammed Muntari | Qatar | 1 |
| Takuma Asano | Japan | 1 |
| Romain Saiss | Morocco | 1 |
| Zakaria Aboukhlal | Morocco | 1 |
| Hakim Ziyech | Morocco | 1 |
| Lovro Majer | Croatia | 1 |
| Bruno Petkovic | Croatia | 1 |
| Marko Livaja | Croatia | 1 |
| Alphonso Davies | Canada | 1 |
| Keysher Fuller | Costa Rica | 1 |
| Wahbi Khazri | Tunisia | 1 |
| Henry Martin | Mexico | 1 |
| Luis Chavez | Mexico | 1 |
| Aurelien Tchouameni | France | 1 |
| Theo Hernandez | France | 1 |
| Randal Kolo Muani | France | 1 |
| Angel Di Maria | Argentina | 1 |
| Josko Gvardiol | Croatia | 1 |
| Mislav Orsic | Croatia | 1 |
| Achraf Dari | Morocco | 1 |
The 2022 World Cup Golden Boot was always set to be fiercely contested, with a host of top-class players in the running to finish top scorer.
England talisman Kane went into the World Cup as favourite to win the Golden Boot.
The Spurs striker finished top scorer at Russia 2018, finding the back of the net six times as England reached the semi-finals. He only scored twice in Qatar.
France won the 2018 World Cup, partly thanks to the brilliance of Mbappe. The PSG superstar went in as second favourite to become top-scorer in Qatar.
Karim Benzema was third favourite to win the Golden Boot but was ruled out of the tournament with injury just days before it got underway.
Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo both played in their fifth World Cups, looking to crown their legendary careers by not only winning the tournament but by also claiming the Golden Boot. Ronaldo was eliminated after scoring just one goal.
World Cup Golden Boot Winners
| Tournament | Player | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 1930 | Guillermo Stabile (Argentina) | 8 |
| 1934 | Oldrich Nejedly (Czechoslovakia) | 5 |
| 1938 | Leonidas (Brazil) | 7 |
| 1950 | Ademir (Brazil) | 8 |
| 1954 | Sandor Kocsis (Hungary) | 11 |
| 1958 | Just Fontaine (France) | 13 |
| 1962 | Six players* | 4 |
| 1966 | Eusebio (Portugal) | 9 |
| 1970 | Gerd Muller (West Germany) | 10 |
| 1974 | Grzegorz Lato (Poland) | 7 |
| 1978 | Mario Kempes (Argentina) | 6 |
| 1982 | Paolo Rossi (Italy) | 6 |
| 1986 | Gary Lineker (England) | 6 |
| 1990 | Salvatore Schillaci (Italy) | 6 |
| 1994 | Oleg Salenko (Russia) & Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria) | 6 |
| 1998 | Davor Suker (Croatia) | 6 |
| 2002 | Ronaldo (Brazil) | 8 |
| 2006 | Miroslav Klose (Germany) | 5 |
| 2010 | Thomas Muller (Germany) | 5 |
| 2014 | James Rodriguez (Colombia) | 6 |
| 2018 | Harry Kane (England) | 6 |
| 2022 | Kylian Mbappe (France) | 8 |
*The six players who all top-scored with four goals in 1962 were Florian Albert (Hungary), Valentin Ivanov (USSR), Vava and Garrincha (Brazil), Drazan Jerkovic (Yugoslavia) and Leonel Sanchez (Chile).
Germany legend Miroslav Klose is the World Cup all-time top scorer with 16 goals.
He is followed by Brazil legend Ronaldo with 15 goals, Gerd Muller with 14, Just Fontaine with 13 and Mbappe and Pele with 12.
What are the World Cup Golden Boot tiebreaker rules?
If two or more players finish level on goals at the top of the standings, the Golden Boot goes to the player with the most assists.
