World Cup 2022 top goal scorer: who won the Golden Boot?

By Reuters December 18, 2022 | 07:34 pm PT

France's Kylian Mbappe poses with his Golden Boot award during the award ceremony after the final match with Argentina at FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, Lusail Stadium, Lusail, Qatar, December 18, 2022. Photo by Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach

One of the top honors awarded at the 2022 FIFA World Cup was the Golden Boot which is presented to the top scorer at the tournament.

France striker Kylian Mbappe topped the count with eight goals, one more than Argentina's Lionel Messi, after bagging a hat-trick in the final which the defending champions lost to the South Americans on penalties.

The number of assists is used as a tiebreaker to separate players who are level on goals scored. If they are tied on both counts, the winner is decided by who played the fewest minutes.

Golden Boot: Kylian Mbappe (8 goals)

The 23-year-old scored against Australia in his side's opening Group D match and bagged a second-half double against Denmark as France booked their knockout spot.

France's talisman failed to find the net as Tunisia recorded a famous upset in their final group match.

Silver Boot: Lionel Messi (7 goals)

The Argentina great played in what he said was his last World Cup. The 35-year-old opened his account by burying a spot kick in a shock Group C loss to Saudi Arabia, before scoring and assisting Enzo Fernandez in an emotionally charged win over Mexico.

Messi scored in Argentina's 2-1 win over Australia in the last 16, putting his side ahead after 35 minutes with a coolly taken low strike for his 94th international goal.

He also assisted a goal and scored in Argentina's quarter-final win over the Netherlands.

Messi was heavily involved in Argentina's 3-0 semi-final victory over Croatia, scoring one and assisting on another for teammate Julian Alvarez, who scored twice.

He added two more goals to his tally in the final.

Bronze Boot: Olivier Giroud (4 goals)

Giroud, 36, surpassed Thierry Henry to become France's all-time top scorer when he netted his 52nd goal in 117 appearances for Les Bleus in their 3-1 World Cup last-16 win over Poland.

He had drawn level with Henry on 51 after netting a double in France's 4-1 win over Australia in their opening Group D game.

Giroud also scored in France's 2-1 quarter-final win over England but failed to find the net in the semi-final or final.