MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The stage is set for another historic chapter in Lionel Messi’s unprecedented World Cup legacy this Friday, as the Argentine captain kicks off his latest bid for the sport’s most coveted individual tournament honor: the Golden Boot, awarded to the World Cup’s top goal scorer.
Widely hailed as the greatest men’s footballer to ever step onto the pitch, Messi will return to World Cup action when defending champions Argentina face off against Cape Verde in the tournament’s round of 32. Entering Friday’s clash, Messi has found the back of the net six times throughout this year’s competition, pulling him into a dead heat for the tournament’s goal-scoring lead with France’s Kylian Mbappé.
While the two superstars sit atop the goal rankings, they are far from the only contenders gunning for the Golden Boot. Erling Haaland of Norway and Harry Kane of England each enter Friday’s matches on five goals, while four other players have notched four goals apiece: France’s Ousmane Dembele, Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal, Brazil’s Vinicius Junior, and Senegal’s Ismaila Sarr. Sarr has already been eliminated from the tournament alongside Senegal, taking him out of the running for the award.
All of the closest pursuers — Norway, England, and France — have already secured their places in the next round of 16. For Messi and Argentina, however, a spot in the knockout stage’s next round is still on the line: only a win over Cape Verde will book their progression.
Messi’s current goal-scoring form is rewriting record books, with the Argentine icon notching at least one goal in seven consecutive World Cup matches dating back to the 2022 tournament. No other men’s player in World Cup history has ever put together such a streak. Across those seven matches, he has scored 11 goals, pushing his all-time career World Cup total to 19 — one more than Mbappé, marking the highest career goal total in men’s World Cup history.
Remarkably, despite his decades of dominance at the international tournament, Messi has never claimed the Golden Boot. At the 2022 World Cup, he finished second in the goal-scoring rankings with seven strikes, one goal behind Mbappé. In the 2014 edition, he tied for third with four goals.
If the two leaders remain tied at the top of the goal table when the tournament wraps up, FIFA’s tie-breaking rules will first compare total assists, then total minutes played to decide the winner. Entering Friday’s match, Mbappé holds a 2-0 lead over Messi in assists, putting the Frenchman at an advantage should the tie hold through the final match.