The FIFA World Cup is set to kick off in the Middle East for the first time in the competition’s history with 32 of the best teams in the world battling it out to see who comes out on top and earns the title of the new world champions. The 2022 World Cup will begin on November 20 and conclude on December 18, with the final being held at the Lusail Iconic Stadium in Qatar.
To celebrate the return of the prestigious FIFA competition this year, let’s find out about the golden boot trophy that is awarded at the end of each World Cup final.
What Is FIFA’s Golden Boot Award?
The Golden Boot trophy goes to the highest-scoring footballer of the FIFA World Cup. The first time FIFA decided to give out the award, which was known back then as the Golden Shoe, was in the 1982 World Cup finals. Back in 2010, FIFA decided to rename the award as the Golden Boot.
If more than one player finishes the tournament with the same amount of goals, then the award goes to the player who has scored the fewest amount of penalties in the competition. In the rare case that two or more players cannot be separated by then, FIFA gives the award to the player with more assists.
| Top Goalscorer | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Cup | Top goalscorer | Goals | Runners-up | Goals | Third place | Goals |
| 1930 Uruguay |  Guillermo Stábile | 8 |  Pedro Cea | 5 |  Bert Patenaude | 4 |
| 1934 Italy |  Oldřich Nejedlý | 5 |  Edmund Conen Angelo Schiavio | 4 | None | — |
| 1938 France |  Leônidas | 7 |  György Sárosi Gyula Zsengellér Silvio Piola | 5 | ||
| 1950 Brazil | Ademir | 8 | Óscar Míguez | Alcides Ghiggia Chico Estanislau Basora Telmo Zarra | 4 | |
| 1954 Switzerland |  Sándor Kocsis | 11 |  Josef Hügi Max Morlock Erich Probst | 6 | None | — |
| 1958 Sweden |  Just Fontaine | 13 | Pelé Helmut Rahn | |||
| 1962 Chile |  Flórián Albert Valentin Ivanov Garrincha Vavá Dražan Jerković Leonel Sánchez | 4 | None | — | ||
| 1966 England |  Eusébio | 9 | Helmut Haller | 6 | Valeriy Porkujan Geoff Hurst Ferenc Bene Franz Beckenbauer | 4 |
| 1970 Mexico | Gerd Müller | 10 |  Jairzinho | 7 |  Teófilo Cubillas | 5 |
| 1974 West Germany |  Grzegorz Lato | 7 | Andrzej Szarmach Johan Neeskens | 5 | None | |
| 1978 Argentina | Mario Kempes | 6 | Teófilo Cubillas | Rob Rensenbrink | 5 | |
| Golden Shoe | ||||||
| World Cup | Golden Shoe | Goals | Silver Shoe | Goals | Bronze Shoe | Goals |
| 1982 Spain |  Paolo Rossi | 6 | Karl-Heinz Rummenigge | 5 | Zico | 4 |
| 1986 Mexico | Gary Lineker | 6 |  Emilio Butragueño Careca Diego Maradona | 5 | None | |
| 1990 Italy | Salvatore Schillaci | 6 | Tomáš Skuhravý | 5 |  Roger Milla Gary Lineker | 4 |
| 1994 United States |  Oleg Salenko Hristo Stoichkov | 6 | None | — |  Kennet Andersson Romário | 5 |
| 1998 France |  Davor Šuker | 6 | Gabriel Batistuta Christian Vieri | 5 | None | |
| 2002 South Korea/Japan | Ronaldo | 8 | Miroslav Klose Rivaldo | 5 | ||
| 2006 Germany | Miroslav Klose | 5 | Hernán Crespo | 3 | Ronaldo | 3 |
| Golden Boot | ||||||
| World Cup | Golden Boot | Goals | Silver Boot | Goals | Bronze Boot | Goals |
| 2010 South Africa | Thomas Müller | 5 | David Villa | 5 | Wesley Sneijder | 5 |
| 2014 Brazil |  James Rodríguez | 6 | Thomas Müller | 5 | Neymar | 4 |
| 2018 Russia | Harry Kane | 6 | Antoine Griezmann | 4 |  Romelu Lukaku | 4 |
