Can anyone do it? Messi leads race to beat a record from 1958 | OneFootball

Lionel Messi is leading the race for the FIFA World Cup 2026 Golden Boot.

He has scored six goals after three matches. One fewer than the seven he scored in seven games at the World Cup in Qatar.

His closest challengers at the moment are the French duo Mbappé and Dembélé, Vini Jr., and Haaland - all with four goals. See the top scorers below. 

The extra stage in this World Cup (Round of 32) could help the all-time record for goals in a single World Cup edition to finally be broken. 

Brazil already has an opponent lined up for the first FIFA international window after the World Cup

'It depends on...' Ancelotti speaks about Neymar's chances of facing 🇯🇵

Just Fontaine scored 13 times for France at the 1958 World Cup. He became the record holder and, since then, no one has even matched it. 

Besides Fontaine, only Kocsis with Hungary in 1954 and then Germany's Gerd Müller (1970) scored ten or more goals in a single World Cup edition. 

Top scorers at World Cup 26:

Messi 🇦🇷 - 6 goals

Vini Jr 🇧🇷, Mbappé 🇫🇷, Dembélé 🇫🇷 and Haaland 🇳🇴 - 4 goals

Kane 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, Matheus Cunha 🇧🇷, Wissa 🇨🇩, Brobbey 🇳🇱, Saibari 🇲🇦, Ismaïla Sarr 🇸🇳, Manzambi, Jonathan David 🇨🇦, Undav 🇩🇪 and Just 🇦🇺 - 3 goals

⚽ The top scorers from every edition:

1930 - Guillermo Stábile 🇦🇷 - 8

1934 - Oldrich Nejedlý 🇨🇿 - 5

1938 - Leônidas da Silva 🇧🇷 - 7

1950 - Ademir Menezes 🇧🇷 - 9

1954 - Sándor Kocsis 🇭🇺 - 11

1958 - Just Fontaine 🇫🇷 - 13

1962 - Garrincha 🇧🇷, Vavá 🇧🇷, Leonel Sánchez 🇨🇱, Flórián Albert 🇭🇺, Drazan Jerkovic* and Valentin Ivanov** - 4

1966 - Eusébio 🇵🇹 - 9

1970 - Gerd Müller 🇩🇪 - 10

1974 - Lato 🇵🇱 - 7

1978 - Mario Kempes 🇦🇷 - 6

1982 - Paolo Rossi 🇮🇹 - 6

1986 - Gary Lineker 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 - 6

1990 - Schillaci 🇮🇹 - 6

1994 - Stoichkov 🇧🇬 and Oleg Salenko 🇷🇺 - 6

1998 - Davor Šuker 🇭🇷 - 6

2002 - Ronaldo 🇧🇷 - 8

2006 - Klose 🇩🇪 - 5

2010 - Thomas Müller 🇩🇪, David Villa 🇪🇸, Sneijder 🇳🇱 and Forlán 🇺🇾 - 5

2014 - James Rodríguez 🇨🇴 - 6

2018 - Harry Kane 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 - 6

2022 - Mbappé 🇫🇷 - 8

*Drazan Jerkovic represented what was then Yugoslavia.

**Valentin Ivanov was a player for what was then the Soviet Union. 

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.

📸 David Ramos - 2026 Getty Images