Who Will Win the 2022 Golden Boot?
It’s World Cup time again, that special time when football fans band together to watch the most prestigious tournament in the world. Many people take time off work to watch their team, as the true magic of the World Cup can only be experienced when watching it live. Something about entertainment and events being experienced live just makes them better, whether it’s spectating of the World Cup games live at a bar, playing poker at casinos like Platincasino live, or listening to a favorite band at a concert in the local arena.
While many may wonder who will win the World Cup, some too will discuss potential winners of the Golden Boot. The Golden Boot is awarded to the highest-scoring player at each year’s World Cup and has a lot of prestige attached. Here are the last seven to win the distinguished award.
1994 FIFA WORLD CUP USA – Oleg Salenko/Hristo Stoichkov (6 Goals)
The joint winners of this award in 1994 came from two unlikely sources, Hristo Stoichkov of Bulgaria and Oleg Salenko of Russia. Bulgaria had a fantastic run to the semi-finals at this event, narrowly losing to Italy 2-1. Stoichkov scored half of his six goals in the knockout stage, scoring in each of the knockout games. Russia didn’t make it out of the group stage. Still, a 6-1 hammering of Cameroon, where Salenko scored five, helped Oleg to add his name to this list of Golden Boot winners.
1998 FIFA WORLD CUP FRANCE – Davor Suker (6 Goals)
The Golden Boot winner in France’s World Cup also came from the country that reached the semi-finals. This time it was Davor Suker of Croatia, who had a slow start to the tournament but grew into it as Croatia progressed through the competition. Goals against Romania and Germany helped the team to a quarter-final against France, but a goal against the eventual champions couldn’t stop their march to the trophy.
2002 FIFA WORLD CUP KOREA/JAPAN- Ronaldo (8 Goals)
After being plagued with injury problems at Inter, O Fenòmeno, or The Phenomenon, headed the Brazilian team to claim the championship. Ronaldo Nazário, known simply as Ronaldo, was imperious at this World Cup, scoring four goals in Brazil’s group stage against Turkey, China, and Costa Rica. His most important goals came in the tournament’s latter stages when he scored the only goal against a resolute Turkish side and both goals against Germany in the final to bring the trophy back to Brazil.
2006 FIFA WORLD CUP GERMANY – Miroslav Klose (5 Goals)
Born in Poland, Klose is Germany’s all-time top goalscorer and the all-time top goalscorer at the World Cup! He won his only Golden Boot in the country he represents, scoring four times in the group stage against Costa Rica and Ecuador. He scored Germany’s only goal against Argentina as they progressed on penalties, but couldn’t help find a way past Italy, the tournament’s eventual champions.
2010 FIFA WORLD CUP SOUTH AFRICA – Thomas Muller (5 Goals)
The first World Cup to be held in the African continent yielded another German player as the winner of the Golden Boot. Muller only scored once in the group stage, during a 4-0 rout of Australia, but he turned things up a notch in the knockout stage. He scored twice in the 4-1 thrashing of England and scored the opening goal of the 4-0 defeat of Argentina. Unfortunately, he couldn’t keep that record up against Spain, as Germany lost again in the semi-finals to the eventual champions.
2014 FIFA WORLD CUP BRAZIL – James Rodriguez (6 Goals)
This tournament was the debut of Colombia’s golden generation, and the star of that era was undoubtedly James Rodriguez. Rodriguez scored a goal in Colombia’s group games against Greece, Japan, and the Ivory Coast, as Colombia topped the group with three wins. He then went on to score twice in the Round of 16 defeat of Uruguay before scoring a consolation goal in their quarter-final defeat to Brazil, making him the only player on this list to score in each game he played. Brazil went on to lose to eventual champions Germany in the semi-final.
2018 FIFA WORLD CUP RUSSIA – Harry Kane (6 Goals)
The winner of the Golden Boot at the last World Cup is England’s own Harry Kane. Kane did most of his work in the early stages of the tournament. He scored twice in the 2-1 win over Tunisia and became only the third English player to score a hat-trick at the World Cup in the 6-1 win over Panama. He scored England’s only goal in their 1-1 draw with Colombia, and while England won on penalties, they lost out to Croatia in the semi-finals. France beat Croatia in the final to claim their second World Cup.
The 2022 Winner Will Be
There have been some legendary winners of the Golden Boot over the years, and every player at this year’s World Cup will be hoping to add their name to the list. While nothing’s as important as winning the tournament, having a Golden Boot potential in your team usually signals that your team will go far. So you better hope one of your players comes home with the Golden Boot from Qatar!
In the running in 2022 are Argentina’s Lionel Messi, France’s Kylian Mbappe, England’s Marcus Rashford, The Netherland’s Cody Gakpo and Spain’s Alvaro Morata, a long run by their team will give the players every chance to score the most goals!
Originally from Malta and I love football. I appreciate the opportunity that this website gave me to start my career in football journalism. I’m a Man Utd fan and England supporter, and I watch football games mainly from England, Germany and Spain. I love to be informed about everything that is happening in the world of football.
