Mbappe Becomes First Player With Two World Cup Golden Boots

Kylian Mbappe became the first player in World Cup history to win multiple Golden Boot awards, finishing this tournament with 10 goals after scoring twice in France’s 6-4 loss to England in Saturday’s third-place match. The achievement places him alongside an elite group of scoring records that now firmly belong to him alone.

His closest rival for the award, Messi, was still chasing his first career Golden Boot while trying to lead Argentina to back-to-back titles — a bid for revenge four years after Messi’s Argentina beat Mbappe’s France on penalties in the 2022 Qatar final. That revenge bid fell flat: Argentina managed just two total shots against Spain in Sunday’s final, both arriving late, and failed to register a single shot on target across 120 minutes. Messi went scoreless for a third consecutive match, having scored eight goals across the tournament’s group stage, round of 32, and round of 16 before going quiet in the knockout rounds that mattered most.

Mbappe’s tournament run cements his status statistically. His two second-half goals against England on Saturday pushed him past Messi for the all-time World Cup scoring record, now standing at 22 goals in 22 matches at age 27 — a pace that leaves him well ahead of Messi’s 21, achieved over a longer career. Messi had briefly held the outright record earlier this tournament after surpassing German striker Miroslav Klose, only for Mbappe to overtake him before the final whistle blew on what was likely Messi’s last World Cup appearance at 39.

Mbappe’s scoring pattern this summer leaned heavily on braces, with two-goal performances against Iraq, Senegal, Sweden, and England accounting for eight of his ten goals. He’s the first player to reach double-digit goals in a single World Cup since West Germany’s Gerd Muller in 1970 — a 56-year gap that underscores how rare this scoring feat has become in the modern tournament format.

Spain, unsurprisingly, swept the remaining major individual honors following its title win. Midfielder Rodri claimed the Golden Ball for the tournament’s best overall player despite recording zero goals or assists across Spain’s eight matches — a selection built instead on his passing volume, distance covered, and overall involvement, which led all players this tournament. Rodri’s defensive discipline also played a direct role in limiting Messi’s influence during the final.

Goalkeeper Unai Simon and defender Pau Cubarsi picked up the Golden Glove and Best Young Player awards respectively, reflecting Spain’s historic defensive campaign: just one goal conceded across the tournament, a record for a World Cup-winning side, alongside only 10 shots on target allowed in eight matches. Simon’s seven clean sheets broke the previous single-tournament record by two, and his nine career World Cup clean sheets now sit one shy of the all-time mark of 10 shared by Fabien Barthez and Peter Shilton.