The Golden Boot is the award given to the top goal scorer in the World Cup Finals. This prized trophy has been won in the past by big names like Ronaldo, Paolo Rossi, and Eusebio.
So, who will get the Golden Boot in this year’s World Cup in Qatar? Let’s find out who are the favorite in the betting odds.
Harry Kane – England
English forward Harry Kane has scored 50 goals in 71 international games, including 6 in the 2018 World Cup. This put him ahead of France’s Antoine Griezmann and Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku, who each scored four goals. Will he do the same again this year?
Kane plays for England’s Tottenham Hotspur and is their second top goal scorer of all time with 249 goals. This puts him behind the legendary Jimmy Greaves, who scored 266 times for the team. There is no doubt that he’s capable of winning the prize again, and many people currently put Kane as the favorite for the Golden Boot again.
Kylian Mbappé – France
French forward Mbappé is second on the list of favorites to win the Golden Boot in 2022. Bovada’s odds for World Cup 2022 games put France as favorites to beat Australia and Denmark in their opening games. This would give Mbappé the chance to score more as the team progresses to the later stages.
At club level, he’s been playing with Paris Saint-Germain and is reportedly the world’s highest-paid player now. At just 23, he’s already scored over 100 club goals and 27 in internationals. His birthday is just a couple of days after the World Cup Final at the Lusail Stadium in Doha, so he’ll be hoping for a double celebration.
Karim Benzema – France
It’s a sign of the immense firepower of the French team that the third favorite just now also plays for them. Benzema has been with Spain’s Real Madrid for over a decade and is now their second-highest goal scorer of all time. This was achieved after he scored in the recent UEFA Super Cup, and he also now leads their assists totals.
For France, he has an impressive 37 goals from 97 games and is currently going through a golden spell where he’s been scoring a lot of goals. It should be remembered that he didn’t play for the French national team during a five-year spell earlier in his career. So it’s easy to see why Benzema will be out to make up for lost time.
Lionel Messi – Argentina
Since this is probably going to be Messi’s final World Cup, millions of fans will be urging on the forward to try and win it for the first time. Arguably still the best player in the world at 35 years old, Messi now plays in France for Paris Saint-Germain. He’s scored 86 goals for his country and has racked up a huge list of goal-scoring records for his club as well as for Argentina.
Yet, until now, Messi’s trips to the World Cup have always ended in disappointment for him. In fact, he’s only scored a modest six goals over several of these tournaments. Can he finish his top-level career with a bang?
Cristiano Ronaldo – Portugal
Another iconic player who has smashed numerous goal-scoring records, Cristiano Ronaldo is currently the all-time top scorer in international games, with 117 goals for Portugal. With his club career at Manchester United in turmoil and at the age of 37, it seems fair to suggest that he’ll be focusing on the World Cup this year. Yet, the fact that he’s currently not the favorite to win the Golden Boot in Qatar is probably due to the feeling that Portugal might not go far enough for him to score the goals needed to lead the rest.
Indeed, there have been suggestions that Portugal has been too reliant on Ronaldo’s goals in recent years. He guided his country to success in the 2016 UEFA European Championship, where he scored three goals. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see his incredible determination drive him to the Golden Boot this year too.
Neymar – Brazil
The Brazilian forward has had bad luck at the World Cups so far. In the 2014 tournament in Brazil, a back injury made miss him the semi-final against Germany, where the watching world was shocked by the 7-1 loss inflicted on the home nation. In 2018, he scored two goals but couldn’t stop his team losing to Belgium in the quarter-finals.
Neymar is yet another player who has signed to Paris Saint-Germain. He is also one of the few players to have scored more than 100 goals for three different clubs. When representing Brazil, he’s scored 74 times, making him the nation’s second-top scorer behind Pelé.
Others
These tournaments often bring a new star onto the soccer scene. Previous Golden Boot winners included relatively low-profile players like Oleg Salenko in 1994 and Salvatore Schillaci in 1990.
With hundreds of the best players in the world heading to Qatar this year, there is every chance that we’re surprised by the eventual winner of the Golden Boot award.
