We take a look back at the top scorers in FIFA World Cup history, peppered with some of soccer’s greats.
Published May 18, 2026
Scoring a goal at the World Cup is one of the most coveted moments in a footballer’s career and on June 11, some of the best strikers will have the chance to add their name to the competition’s scoring list.
The forward who scores the most goals by July 19th will be awarded the Golden Boot award and will be placed alongside some of the greatest players in the history of the sport.
Here is a list of Golden Boot winners over the years:
1930: Guillermo Stabile (Argentina) – 8 goals 1934: Aldrich Nejedry (Czech Republic) – 5 goals 1938: Leonidas (Brazil) – 7 goals 1950: Ademir (Brazil) – 8 goals 1954: Sándor Kocsis (Hungary) – 11 goals 1958: Juste Fontaine (France) – 13 goals 1962: Florian Albert (Hungary), Valentin Ivanov (USSR), Garrincha (Brazil), Vava (Brazil), Leonel Sánchez (Chile), Drazan Jelkovoc (Yugoslavia) – 4 goals 1966: Eusebio (Portugal) – 9 goals 1970: Gerd Müller (Germany) – 10 goals 1974: Grzegorz Lato (Poland) – 7 goals 1978: Mario Kempes (Argentina) – 6 goals
1982: Paolo Rossi (Italy) – 6 goals 1986: Gary Lineker (England) – 6 goals 1990: Salvatore Schillaci (Italy) – 6 goals 1994: Oleg Salenko (Russia), Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria) – 6 goals 1998: Davor Šuker (Croatia) – 6 goals 2002: Ronaldo (Brazil) – 8 goals 2006: Miroslav Klose (Germany) – 5 goals 2010: Thomas Muller (Germany) – 5 goals 2014: James Rodriguez (Colombia) – 6 goals 2018: Harry Kane (England) – 6 goals 2022: Kylian Mbappé (France) – 8 goals
