Golden Boot Odds and Predictions For FIFA World Cup 2022

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With the 2022 FIFA World Cup in full swing, only 8 teams remain from the 32 teams that had dreams of winning the prestigious football trophy. With that in mind, a handful of players around the world still fancy their chances of winning the coveted Golden Boot award.

The bookmakers have released some interesting odds in the top-scorer market, and if you're wondering who to bet on, we can help you out with a closer look at the top candidates.

Our Betting Picks for 2022 WC Golden Boot Award

Kylian Mbappe to Win Golden Boot

The young French star was already close to winning this prestigious award in Russia, four years ago. At that time, he was only nineteen and with more experience he acquired during the past four years, Mbappe was one of the favourites to be the top goalscorer in Qatar.

The young striker delivered on those expectations as he enters the final game against Argentina tied with their captain Leo Messi. Messi is currently ahead since he has one assist more, which is the first tie-breaker, but we were betting on Mbappe since the start and we can see him claiming the Golden Boot after the final.

Golden Boot Odds, Predictions, and Betting Tips

Now it is time to take a look at the main favourites to win the Golden Boot at 2022 World Cup and the odds for each of those favourites:

Lionel Messi (Argentina) @ 3/5

Not only is this the last World Cup for Lionel Messi, it is arguably his best one yet. Although the Argentinian legend already once led his team to the final, his individual performances in Qatar have been ahead of anything we've seen from him in previous World Cups. After all, Messi enters the final game as the main favourite to win the Golden Boot award, which he never came close to before.

Ahead of the last game of the tournament, Messi has five goals and he is sharing the top spot along with Kylian Mbappe. However, Messi also has three assists compared to Mbappe's two, so if they end up being tied, assists will be the tie-breaker and Messi could win the Golden Boot because of it.

888Sport Odds: 3/5

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Kylian Mbappe (France) @ 6/4

The PSG striker was one of the top-scorers in the last edition of the World Cup as well. With four goals, he was tied for second-place, behind only Harry Kane. It's even more impressive considering Mbappe was 19 at the time, and that was his first ever FIFA World Cup outing. Four years and 170+ goals later, and the Frenchman is clearly one of the best forwards in the world.

So, it was no surprise to see Mbappe as one of the favourites to win the top goalscorer award in Qatar and he is close to meeting those expectations. Ahead of the final game, Mbappe has five goals, just like Lionel Messi. However, Messi also has one assist more, so he is ahead in the race, but it can all chance after the final fixture.

888Sport Odds: 6/4

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Olivier Giroud (France) @ 19/1

As a true cornerstone of this French generation, Giroud is not the flashiest of names and he has often been critiqued for his lack of goals, which is the primary purpose of a striker after all. But Giroud offers so much more than simply scoring goals and his link up play is one of the main reasons why France won the title four years ago in Russia.

However, Giroud did much better in the scoring department in Qatar since he scored four goals for France so far. In doing so, he became the top scorer in the history of French national team, overtaking a legend like Thierry Henry in the process. That's a huge accomplishment and if Giroud can crown it by defending the title with France, he will truly secure his place in history. On top of that, he is just one goal behind his teammate Mbappe and Messi in the race for the Golden Boot award as well.

888Sport Odds: 19/1

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Julian Alvarez (Argentina) @ 19/1

With two goals against Croatia in semi finals, Julian Alvarez finds himself only one goal behind Mbappe and Messi in the race for the Golden Boot. While it's hard to see him overtaking both of them, especially since he is also behind in assists, Alvarez still has a chance to win the award.

Man City forward doesn't get too many chances to play ahead of Haaland in his club, but he is the main striker in Argentina and thus it wouldn't be too surprising to see him score multiple goals in the final to win the Golden Boot.

888Sport Odds: 19/1

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All You Need to Know About World Cup Golden Boot Award

The Golden Boot award, or as it sometimes also called, the Golden Shoe award, is an award that goes to the top goalscorer during any FIFA World Cup.

The award was established in 1982 and it was first called the Golden Shoe award, as we already mentioned. Before 1982, FIFA did track and rank top goalscorers, but no award was given. Despite that, FIFA often includes top goalscorers from those earlier World Cups in their lists of Golden Boot winners.

How Is the Golden Boot Winner Determined

Obviously, the first thing that's looked at is the number of goals and if one players has more goals than all the others, he will win the award. However, in case of a tie between two or more players, there are a few tie-breakers used to decide who wins the Golden Boot:

• The winner is a player who scored fewer goals from penalties (since 1994)
• The winner is a player with more assists
• The winner is a player who played fewer minutes, thus having the higher goal average (since 2006)

FIFA Golden Boot Past Winners

Before 1982 when the award was established, FIFA ranked the players as top goalscorers and we had some big names here, like Just Fontaine, Eusebio, Mario Kempes, Sandor Kocsis, Gerd Miller, etc. In 1962 in Chile, six players topped the list of goalscorers with four goals each, so they are all seen as the top goalscorer for that World Cup.

Once the award was established in 1982, here is a list of past winners:

• 1982 Spain – Paolo Rossi (6 Goals)
• 1986 Mexico – Garry Lineker (6 Goals)
• 1990 Italy – Salvatore Schillaci (6 Goals)
• 1994 USA – Oleg Salenko, Hristo Stoichkov (6 Goals)
• 1998 France – Davor Suker (6 Goals)
• 2002 South Korea/Japan – Ronaldo (8 Goals)
• 2006 Germany – Miroslav Klose (5 Goals)
• 2010 South Africa – Thomas Muller (5 Goals)
• 2014 Brazil – James Rodriquez (6 Goals)
• 2018 Russia – Harry Kane (6 Goals)

Each Way Betting for FIFA Golden Boot Award

Those who enjoy betting on horse races are already familiar with each-way betting, but some of you might need a bit of help. Betting each way means betting on a player to finish in one of the top positions. How high the player needs to finish is determined by the bookies.

For example, 888sports offers each-way betting for WC 2022 and the player has to be in Top 4 goalscorers for you to win the bet. The odds for this betting market are 1/4 of the odds to win the Golden Boot award. For example, the odds on Harry Kane were 7/1 to win the Golden Boot before the start of the tournament, so betting on him each way is priced at even odds.

Conclusion

With the World Cup winding down and only a few matches remaining, there aren't many options left when it comes to potential Golden Boot winners. Our choice is Kylian Mbappe, who is also the safe choice at the moment given that he is leading the race ahead of the semi final matches.

In any case, we hope that our article helped you decide who your favourites are for the Golden Boot award in Qatar.