World Cup Golden Boot Winner – Who will top score in 2026?

With the 2026 World Cup nearing its start date, excitement is growing for bettors with a wide range of markets to pick from. We are going to look at the popular Golden Boot competition market in this article. We will preview several players and create a World Cup Golden Boot Prediction for you to consider. With extra knockout games to play, this could be a chance for someone to challenge the extraordinary record of 13 goals in one tournament scored by Just Fontaine back in 1958.

Originally known as the golden shoe, the golden boot is now one of the most highly prized individual awards a footballer can win. The winners list includes some absolute goalscoring legends – Ronaldo, Eusebio, Kempes, Lineker, Suker, Klose, Stoichkov, Muller and Fontaine. And those are the ones that have retired!

The award is simply given to the player who scores the most goals in the tournament, with no consideration of games or minutes played taken into account. It’s a popular betting market and often has offers attached to by sportsbooks as well, including odds boosts and money-back promotions.

Who are the Golden Boot Players to watch out for?

With so many teams, and them all having leading goalscorers, competition for this year’s Golden Boot will be fierce. Below we profile 6 players that we think are in with a good shout of lifting the famous prize.

Where to watch the FIFA 2026 World Cup

With so much interest in the FIFA 2026 World Cup you won’t struggle to find somewhere to watch a  FIFA World Cup Live stream! Virtually every national broadcaster will have some form of TV coverage, ranging from every match to only a select few. Many bookmakers will also have live streams available for ongoing matches so you can follow your Golden Boot pick right through the ups and downs of the tournament as it’s ongoing.

If you just want live text commentary, then this can be found on the FIFA official website and many other sites, including the BBC.

My Prediction for the Golden Boot Winner

So now we move onto the full Golden Boot prediction. Let’s think about some Golden Boot betting tips as well first though. It’s not always about the best long term players for this market. Players who score a hatful against poor opposition in the Group stage can also rank highly, like Oleg Salenko with 6 goals in 1990 and Miroslav Klose with 5 in 2002. Having said that you ideally want someone facing weak early group teams and in a team that will go deep into the tournament. Always try and pick the team’s penalty taker as well!