FIFA World Cup Golden Boot Betting Odds
Mbappe Leads the Way Through Round of 16

Quick Look at the Top Scorer Contenders
The FIFA World Cup doesn’t just award trophies for a winner. FIFA awards the Golden Boot, Golden Glove and Golden Ball awards to the top scorer, best goalie and best player at the tournament, respectively. Today, we’ll focus on the Golden Boot, which England’s Harry Kane won four years ago. Kane has just one goal through the round of 16, so he has a lot of ground to make up to win again. Plus, no player has ever won the award in consecutive World Cups. With that in mind, we’ll take a look at the latest Golden Boot betting odds and the top contenders for the award.
Note on Tiebreakers
While penalty goals can certainly help a player win the award, they won’t help in case of a tie. If two or more players finish with the same number of goals, the first tiebreaker is the least number of penalty goals. The other tiebreakers are most assists and fewest minutes played, in that order.
Top Contenders
Kylian Mbappe is the runaway favorite to win the Golden Boot. The France winger has scored five goals through the round of 16, which is two more than any other player. He’s currently listed at -175 Golden Boot betting odds to be the top scorer. He’s also coming off of a two-goal performance vs. Poland. The 23-year old is a nightmare for fullbacks to deal with and should continue to get plenty of goal scoring opportunities. Mbappe recently became the youngest player to ever score nine World Cup goals and won Best Young Player at Russia 2018.
Brazil’s Richarlison is tied with eight other players, with three goals, and has had some of the best goals of the tournament. The Tottenham Hotspur attacker has scored a scissor kick and on a play where he juggled the ball with his head three straight times. On a Brazil team that figures to create a lot of chances vs. Croatia in the quarterfinals, perhaps he’ll add to his tally. He currently comes in at +600 odds to win the Golden Boot, which is in part due to the fact that Brazil are +175 favorites to go the distance.
Lionel Messi won the 2014 Golden Ball as the best player in the tournament but he’s never been the World Cup top goalscorer before. The Argentine legend is also looking for his first World Cup trophy and has already scored three goals. Messi is still Argentina’s talisman and if they win the tournament, his goals will likely be one of the main reasons why. Argentina take on the Netherlands in the quarterfinals in a match they’re favored to win. So, Messi may get a few more games to catch Mbappe.
Dark Horses:
It’s one of the more unbelievable stats out there but Olivier Giroud has scored more goals for France than any other player. With his goal in the round of 16 vs. Poland, Giroud surpassed Thierry Henry, at 52 goals for Les Bleus. Three of his four career World Cup goals have come at Qatar 2022 and he shows +1800 Golden Boot betting odds to win. The AC Milan man is locked in as France’s number nine. So, he should continue to play a big role going forward.
One of the breakout stars of the World Cup so far has been the Netherlands’ Cody Gakpo. The PSV forward scored in all three group stage matches and is a key player for Louis van Gaal. If he wins the award it wouldn’t be the first time a World Cup debutant takes home the title. Thomas Muller and James Rodriguez won in 2010 and 2014, respectively on their World Cup debuts. Gakpo currently sits at +2000 odds to become top scorer.
In one match, Goncalo Ramos played his way into the Golden Boot conversation. Fernando Santos benched Cristiano Ronaldo in favor of Ramos for Portugal’s matchup vs. Switzerland and it paid dividends. The 21-year old Benfica striker scored a hat trick and registered an assist in a 6-1 blowout victory. He figures to get more opportunities and should start vs. Morocco on Saturday. He’ll most likely have the least minutes played of any player in the race, which benefits him in a tiebreaker. He’s played just 84 minutes so far and comes in at +2500 odds to win the Golden Boot.
Longshots:
England’s Marcus Rashford shows shorter odds to win than Ramos, at +2200, but he’s not a starter for the Three Lions. Two of Rashford’s goals came in a 3-0 group stage win vs. Wales, as Gareth Southgate altered the lineup. Raheem Sterling missed the round of 16 match vs. Senegal due to a family matter. As a result, Phil Foden started instead of Rashford. In limited minutes, his potential to win the Golden Boot is also limited.
Australia and sits at +3000 odds to win the Golden Boot. He’ll need to score at least three more goals to have as much as a chance to win the award.
Lionel Messi’s strike partner Julian Alvarez has scored two goals in four matches. Alvarez scored the winner vs. Australia and sits at +3000 odds to win the Golden Boot. He’ll need to score at least three more goals to have as much as a chance to win the award.
It’s curious that Bukayo Saka shows longer odds than Marcus Rashford to become the top scorer. Saka, England’s starting right winger, shows +3300 odds to win the Golden Boot. He’s currently level on three goals with Rashford. Saka scored in England’s 3-0 rout of Senegal in the round of 16. The Arsenal man is one of the most exciting young players at the tournament.
The 2022 FIFA odds list both Harry Kane and Neymar at longshots +4000 odds and they’ve only scored one goal each so far. Neymar missed two group stage matches with an ankle injury. However, a fifth international hat trick would put him right back into the race. Kane, on the other hand, has been more of a provider than a goal scorer so far. The 2018 Golden Boot winner has three assists, which is the joint-most in the tournament. That’ll serve him well in a tiebreaker scenario. However, he’ll certainly have to have a few multi-goal games to get there in the first place.