Golden Boot contest is heating up as FIFA matches are reaching their final stages

The glittering golden trophy is the only thing the top stars have set their eyes on. As the FIFA matches have reached semi-finals, the race for the same has reached the final stretch.

Golden Boot which is awarded to the player who scores the most goals, is one of the most coveted trophies that will be granted on December 18 at Lusail stadium. Qatar 2022 has seen 161 goals scored in 61 matches as of now, with an average of 2.64 goals per match. The race for individual honours is currently led by Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi and France's Kylian Mbappe, who have both scored five each. Messi scored two goals during the group stage, including one against Saudi Arabia in a match which went down in the history books as one of the biggest shocks in the World Cup history. The Argentine also scored during their wins against Australia in the Last 16 and Netherlands in the semi-final.

Messi, has equalled Lothar Matthaus' record for the most World Cup appearances with his 25th start in yesterday's semi-final against Croatia, scored their opening goal to take his tally to five.

Frenchman Kylian Mbappe also has scored five goals ahead of today’s semi-final against Morocco. The 23-year-old scored one against Australia and braces against Tunisia and Poland. Mbappe’s teammate Olivier Giroud has scored four goals as of now and is also in contention for the top prize.

Giroud’s goal against Poland in the last-16 clash made him France’s all-time top scorer with 52 goals as the 36-year-old surpassed Thierry Henry. Prior to that, Giroud netted a double in the defending champions’ 4-1 win against Australia in their opening game before scoring one against Poland in the Last 16.

Argentine Julian Alvarez, who scored a brace against Croatia, also joined Giroud after taking his tally to four.

Cody Gakpo (Netherlands), Marcus Rashford (England), Alvaro Morata (Spain), Enner Valencia (Ecuador) and Bukayo Saka (England) have scored three goals each but are already out of contention due to the elimination of their respective teams.

The shoe-shaped award was given away for the first time in 1982 under the name Golden Shoe before being named Golden Boot in 2010. The unique shoe-shaped trophy is made of a brass alloy that is electroplated with gold and weighs about a kilogram.

England’s Harry Kane won the award last time in Russia. 

No player has won the Golden Boot more than once, but Brazilians hold the record for winning the award, most number of times - on five occasions, with Leonidas (1934), Ademir (1950), Garrincha and Vava (1962) and Ronaldo (2002) grabbing honours as top scorers.

The record for most number of goals at FIFA World Cup tournaments is currently held by France’s Just Fontaine, who scored 13 goals in the 1958 edition in Sweden. If more than one player finishes the tournament with the same number of goals, the player who has contributed the most assists gets advantage. If there is still a tie, the award goes to the player who has scored most goals per minute.

The second and third highest scorers receive a silver and bronze boot, respectively.

Top scorers at FIFA World Cup

1930: Guillermo Stabile (8 goals)

1934: Oldrich Nejedly (5)

1938: Leonidas da Silva (7)

1950: Ademir de Menezes (8)

1954: Sandor Kocsis (11)

1958: Just Fontaine (13)

1962: Florian Albert, Garrincha, Valentin Ivanov, Drazan Jerkovic, Leonel Sanchez and Vava (4)

1966: Eusebio (9)

1970: Gerd Muller (10)

1974: Grzegorz Lato (7)

1978: Mario Kempes (6)

1982: Paolo Rossi (6)

1986: Gary Lineker (6)

1990: Toto Schillaci (6)

1994: Oleg Salenko and Hristo, Stoichkov (6)

1998: Davor Suker (6)

2002: Ronaldo (8)

2006: Miroslav Klose (5)

2010: Thomas Muller (5)

2014: James Rodriguez (6)

2018: Harry Kane (6)

Top Scorers at Qatar 2022

Lionel Messi (Argentina), Kylian Mbappe (France) 

Olivier Giroud (France), Julian Alvarez (Argentina)

Cody Gakpo (Netherlands), Marcus Rashford (England), Alvaro Morata (Spain), Enner Valencia (Ecuador), Bukayo Saka (England), Richarlison (Brazil), Goncalo Ramos (Portugal)   Andrej Kramaric (Croatia), Mehdi Taremi (Iran), Bruno Fernandes (Portugal), Mohammed Kudus (Ghana),Cho Gue-Sung (South Korea), Breel Embolo (Switzerland), Salem Al Dawsari (Saudi Arabia), Aleksandar Mitrovic (Serbia), Kai Havertz (Germany), Vincent Aboubakar (Cameroon), Niclas Fullkrug (Germany), Ritsu Doan (Japan), Giorgian de Arrascaeta (Uruguay), Robert Lewandowski (Poland), Ferran Torres (Spain), Wout Weghorst (Netherlands), Rafael Leao (Portugal).