The World Cup Golden Boot race has been the best in recent memory.
Much like in 2022, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe have led the race from the opening game, but Erling Haaland, Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior have all had a foot in the race at some point in the tournament.
Messi and Mbappe are currently tied on the same number of goals, and although the latter exited the tournament against Spain, he still has an opportunity to add to his tally with a goal in the third-place play-off in which goals do count towards the final total.
The criteria FIFA use to determine the Golden Boot winner in the event of a tie
With both players tied on eight goals in Canada, Mexico and the United States come the question, who will win the coveted Golden Boot should they still be level when the tournament ends?
We are getting a slight sense of Deja Vu, with both players also being level in Qatar as they prepared to face off in the final, that time on five goals.
Last time out, Mbappe’s hat-trick in the final meant he finished one goal ahead of his then PSG teammate Messi on eight goals. However, until he scored his 118th-minute penalty, they were tied, and the trophy would have been awarded slightly differently.
The first criterion FIFA will use in the event of a tie is the number of assists each player has. A Technical Study Group will decide whether or not something counts as an assist, and award the gong on these criteria.
As things stand, Mbappé would become the first player ever to win two Golden Boots as he currently has three assists, to Messi’s two.
Should both be level on assists, then the Golden Boot is decided by minutes played in the tournament, with the player who has played fewer minutes ranked first, with their minutes-to-goal and -assist ratio better.
The Golden Boot has been shared twice in World Cup history. In 1962 in Chile six players scored four goals each. This was before the term ‘Golden Boot’ was used and Florian Albert, Valentin Ivanov, Garrincha, Vava, Drazan Jerkovic, Leonel Sánchez were just the Top Goalscorers.
Then in 1994, the last time the tournament was played in America it was shared once again, with Oleg Salenko and Hristo Stoichkov scoring six times each.
In 2010, Thomas Muller was awarded the Golden Boot after scoring five goals at the tournament. He was tied with David Villa, Wesley Sneijder and Diego Forlan, but won the prize based on his three assists compared to their one.