World Cup 2022 Golden Boot: How the award is decided if players finish level on goals as Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe lead standings

Argentina booked their spot in the final with a 3-0 victory over Croatia on Tuesday night. Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot before Julian Alvarez netted either side of half time to send the South Americans into their sixth World Cup final.

Messi brilliantly assisted Alvarez’s second goal as he squeezed past Josko Gvardiol on the righttouchline with chalk on his boots before beating the defender again to lay the ball on for the Man City striker to slot home.

France beat Morocco 2-0 in the second semi-final on Wednesday as they look to defend their crown after winning four years ago in Russia. Messi’s goal on Tuesday took him level on goals with Kylian Mbappe for the tournament in the race for the Golden Boot.

With two games left in Qatar, here’s everything you need to know on who could win the award, how it is decided if players finish level on goals and who has won it in the past.

Qatar 2022 leading Golden Boot contenders

Lionel Messi – 5 goals, 3 assists

Kylian Mbappe – 5 goals, 2 assists

Olivier Giroud – 4 goals, 0 assists

Julian Alvarez – 4 goals, 0 assists

How is the award decided if players finish level on goals?

According to FIFA.com, if two players are equal, the one with the most assists will win claim the award. With only one assist separating Messi and Mbappe in the standings ahead of Sunday’s final, if two or more players are still level after goals and assists are taken into account, the player with the fewest minutes played will triumph.

Messi has played every minute of Argentina’s World Cup campaign, including 30 minutes of extra time in their quarter-final success over the Netherlands. Mbappe has completed 90 minutes in five of France’s games but was a second-half substitute in their final group game against Tunisia, meaning he is in line to win the award if he finishes level on goals and assists with Messi.

The award was shared in 1962 when six players scored four goals each while in 1994 two players finished top of the standings and shared the award again.

Which players have won the Golden Boot?

1930: Guillermo Stabile, 8 goals

1934: Oldrich Nejedly, 5 goals

1938: Leonidas da Silva, 7 goals

1950: Ademir de Menezes, 8 goals

1954: Sandor Kocsis, 11 goals

1958: Just Fontaine, 13 goals

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

1966: Eusebio, 9 goals

1970: Gerd Muller, 10 goals

1974: Grzegorz Lato, 7 goals

1978: Mario Kempes, 6 goals

1982: Paolo Rossi, 6 goals

1986: Gary Lineker, 6 goals

1990: Toto Schillaci, 6 goals

1994: Oleg Salenko and Hristo Stoichkov, 6 goals

1998: Davor Suker, 6 goals

2002: Ronaldo, 8 goals

2006: Miroslav Klose, 5 goals

2010: Thomas Muller, 5 goals

2014: James Rodriguez, 6 goals

2018: Harry Kane, 6 goals