Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Pele and Diego Maradona. Four of the greatest players to ever play the game. But none of these sporting superstars ever managed to win the Golden Boot award at the FIFA World Cup. That speaks volumes to the difficulty of earning such an accolade.
Four years ago, it was Harry Kane’s turn to join the likes of Ronaldo, Gerd Muller and Eusebio, bagging six goals as England impressively made their way to the semifinals of football’s greatest competition for the first time in almost 30 years.
Oddschecker, comparing odds and free offers on the World Cup, has made the Tottenham Hotspur striker the favourite to retain the crown he won so impressively in Russia. But who else will be competing with him to win the coveted prize?
Mbappe and Benzema
While Captain Kane was winning the top scorer award, Kylian Mbappe was winning an award of his own in 2018, the Best Young Player of the tournament. Since his wonderfully taken goal in the 4-2 victory over Croatia – winning the World Cup for his nation for a second time, the Frenchman has bagged a further 168 goals for club and country.
This winter, he returns to football’s grandest stage as a bonafide star, and he will be doing his utmost to steal the spotlight once again. And his countryman, Karim Benzema, fresh off of captaining Real Madrid to their 14th UEFA Champions League title, isn’t one to be outdone.
The man they call ‘King Karim’ in the Santiago Bernabeu has been in scintillating form since returning to national team duty last summer.
His call up to Didier Deschamps’ side after a five-and-a-half-year absence raised some eyebrows, even more so when his side exited Euro 2020 after a penalty shootout defeat to Switzerland in the second round. But since then, Benzema has enjoyed the greatest season of his career, bagging massive goal after massive goal en-route to a League and Champions League double.
Ronaldo
Finally, any article regarding top scorers wouldn’t be complete without the ultimate scorer, Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portugal captain somehow managed to net 24 times in 37 games for one of the worst Manchester United teams ever assembled.
For his national team, he’s currently 115 not out when it comes to goals, and he will be backing himself to add to that in Qatar.