The beauty of the World Cup is it is the ultimate festival of football. Most of the game’s top stars are invited to the party to strut their stuff on the grandest stage of all.
Football is a team sport at the end of the day, but there is still plenty of wiggle room for players to make a name for themselves on an individual basis too. The easiest route to such acclamation is by scoring goals.
Here are our picks for who could take home the Golden Boot.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Let’s start with literally the greatest scorer in football history. Cristiano Ronaldo, now 41 years of age, is chasing down the 1,000-goal milestone, and is only 27 away from hitting that number.
The great CR7 doesn’t have a fantastic relationship with the World Cup. Having finished fourth in his first tournament in 2006, the furthest he has got representing the Selecao since has been the quarter-finals, while he has never scored beyond the group stage.
This is expected to be Ronaldo’s final shot at World Cup glory, though he arguably has a better supporting cast than ever to help him find the net, not least Manchester United playmaker Bruno Fernandes off the back of breaking the Premier League assist record this season.
Cristiano Ronaldo heads into the tournament at $21 with TAB to win the Golden Boot
Harry Kane
There was never any doubt that Harry Kane would take his game to the next level after joining a truly elite club like Bayern Munich in 2023, and England will prove beneficiaries for it.
Kane heads into the World Cup having previously won Golden Boots at Russia 2018 as well as Euro 2024, and is fresh from his most prolific season to date, scoring 61 times in 51 games for Bayern.
If Kane can lead the Three Lions to the trophy and also clinch another Golden Boot, then he will almost certainly become the favourite for the Ballon d’Or too. There’s plenty at stake for him this summer.
TAB has Harry Kane priced at $8 to finish as the tournament's top scorer.
Kylian Mbappe
The club life of Kylian Mbappe is complex. He left his beloved Paris Saint-Germain just as they found the key to lifting their Champions League curse and Real Madrid have been in shambles since he arrived in 2024.
This version of Mbappe is a prime candidate for Bill Simmons’ ‘Ewing Theory’ - the idea that a team inexplicably is better off without their best player. With France, it’s a completely different story.
Mbappe was a key performer when Les Bleus won the World Cup in 2018 and almost singlehandedly saved their skin during the blockbuster 2022 final with Argentina, scoring a hat-trick before his side were beaten on penalties and he had to solemnly collect the Golden Boot. He is one of two players on this list with a realistic shot of matching Miroslav Klose’s record for most goals in World Cup history, only four shy of the magic number 16.
Mbappe is available at $7 with TAB to claim the Golden Boot.
Erling Haaland
If Norway are to live up to their status as ‘dark horses’ this tournament, then Erling Haaland will almost certainly have a say in their success. He’s already his country’s all-time leading scorer at 25 and has torn apart club football since emerging as a serious talent at Red Bull Salzburg.
Like Ronaldo, Haaland can lean on the selflessness of an attacking midfielder to boost his chances of scoring, with captain Martin Odegaard of Arsenal ready to supply the goods.
What’s still missing from Haaland’s resume is success on the international level. This is his chance to write his name into Norwegian folklore as a true Nordic great.
According to TAB, Haaland is $15 to end the World Cup as the leading goalscorer.
Mikel Oyarzabal
Of all the names on this list, Mikel Oyarzabal’s is probably the most obscure to the average fan, but he is the top scorer in a Spain squad (THIS COULD CHANGE) that are among the favourites to go all the way.
It was Oyarzabal’s goal that saw La Roja defeat England in the Euro 2024 final and his ability to play anywhere along the front line makes him an incredibly useful asset to head coach Luis de la Fuente, particularly with wonderkid Lamine Yamal not expected to start the tournament due to injury.
Spain are expected to make a deep run and Oyarzabal will get plenty of minutes. He’s as good an outside shot for the Golden Boot as anyone.
Oyarzabal's eye for goal makes him a genuine contender, with TAB offering $13 for him to win the Golden Boot.
Lionel Messi
It would be remiss of us not to talk about arguably the greatest player of all time, wouldn’t it?
There’s not much that we can say about Lionel Messi that is original at this point, though after Mbappe he is the second player here who could nab Klose’s record this summer having recorded 13 World Cup goals over the last 20 years.
Argentina’s hopes of winning back-to-back World Cups will hinge on Messi rediscovering his form from the 2022 tournament that has defined his legacy. Would you want to bet against him doing just that?
Despite being in the latter stages of his career, Messi remains a $15 chance with TAB to finish as the tournament's top scorer.
*Odds correct as of 02/06/26
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