The Golden Boot or Golden Shoe Award goes to the top goalscorer of the FIFA World Cup. It was introduced at the 1930 FIFA World Cup.
If there is more than one player with the same amount of goals, the tie-breaker goes to the player who has contributed the most assists (with the FIFA Technical Study Group deciding whether an assist is to be counted as such). If there is still more than one player, the tie-breaker goes to the player who has played the least amount of time.
| World Cup | Golden Boot | Goals | Silver Boot | Goals | Bronze Boot | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1930 Uruguay | Guillermo Stábile | 8 | Pedro Cea | 5 | Bert Patenaude Guillermo Subiabre |
4 |
| 1934 Italy | Oldřich Nejedlý | 5(1) | Edmund Conen Angelo Schiavio |
4 | Leopold Kielholz Raimundo Orsi |
3 |
| 1938 France | Leônidas da Silva | 7(2) | Gyula Zsengellér | 6 | Silvio Piola György Sárosi |
5 |
| 1950 Brazil | Ademir | 9(3) | Estanislao Basora Óscar Míguez |
5 | Chico Telmo Zarra Alcides Ghiggia |
4 |
| 1954 Switzerland | Sándor Kocsis | 11 | Josef Hügi Max Morlock Erich Probst |
6 | Robert Ballaman Carlos Borges Nándor Hidegkuti Ferenc Puskás Helmut Rahn Hans Schäfer Ottmar Walter |
4 |
| 1958 Sweden | Just Fontaine | 13 | Pelé Helmut Rahn |
6 | Vavá Peter McParland |
5 |
| 1962 Chile | Garrincha Vavá Leonel Sánchez Dražan Jerković Valentin Ivanov Flórián Albert |
4 | Amarildo Adolf Scherer Lajos Tichy Milan Galić |
3 | Jaime Ramírez Eladio Rojas Jorge Toro Ron Flowers Uwe Seeler Giacomo Bulgarelli Igor Chislenko Viktor Ponedelnik José Sasía |
2 |
| 1966 England | Eusébio | 9 | Helmut Haller | 6 | Franz Beckenbauer Ferenc Bene Geoff Hurst Valeriy Porkujan |
4 |
| 1970 Mexico | Gerd Müller | 10 | Jairzinho | 7 | Teófilo Cubillas | 5 |
| 1974 West Germany | Grzegorz Lato | 7 | Johan Neeskens Andrzej Szarmach |
5 | Ralf Edström Gerd Müller Johnny Rep |
4 |
| 1978 Argentina | Mario Kempes | 6 | Teófilo Cubillas Rob Rensenbrink |
5 | Hans Krankl Leopoldo Luque |
4 |
| 1982 Spain (4) | Paolo Rossi | 6 | Karl-Heinz Rummenigge | 5 | Zico
Zbigniew Boniek |
4 |
| 1986 Mexico | Gary Lineker | 6 | Diego Maradona Careca Emilio Butragueño |
5 | Jorge Valdano Preben Elkjaer Larsen Alessandro Altobelli Igor Belanov |
4 |
| 1990 Italy | Salvatore Schillaci | 6 | Tomáš Skuhravý | 5 | Roger Milla Gary Lineker Lothar Matthäus Míchel |
4 |
| 1994 United States | Hristo Stoichkov Oleg Salenko(5) |
6 | Romário Jürgen Klinsmann Roberto Baggio Kennet Andersson |
5 | Gabriel Batistuta Florin Răducioiu Martin Dahlin |
4 |
| 1998 France | Davor Šuker | 6 | Gabriel Batistuta Christian Vieri |
5 | Ronaldo Marcelo Salas Luis Hernández |
4 |
| 2002 South Korea/Japan | Ronaldo | 8(6) | Rivaldo Miroslav Klose |
5 | Jon Dahl Tomasson Christian Vieri |
4 |
| 2006 Germany | Miroslav Klose | 5 | Hernán Crespo | 3 | Ronaldo | 3 |
| 2010 South Africa | Thomas Müller | 5(7) | David Villa | 5(7) | Wesley Sneijder | 5(7) |
1 FIFA initially credited Nejedlý with only four goals, which would make him joint top scorer with Angelo Schiavio of Italy and Edmund Conen of Germany. However, FIFA changed it to five goals in November 2006, making Nejedlý the outright top scorer.
2 FIFA initially credited Leônidas with eight goals. However, in November 2006, FIFA confirmed that in the quarter-final tie against Czechoslovakia, he had scored once, not twice as FIFA had originally recorded, meaning he had scored only seven goals in total. Moreover, in some sources, Leônidas was miscredited with one Brazilian goal in the first-round match against Poland, scoring four goals instead of three in the match.
3 There was controversy regarding the number of goals Brazilian Ademir Menezes had scored in 1950, as a result of incomplete data concerning the Final Round game Brazil vs. Spain (6–1). The first goal had been credited as an own goal by Spanish defender Parra, and the 5–0 goal had been credited to Jair. However, recently FIFA credited Ademir with both these goals. The next highest scorers in the World Cup scored five goals each.
4 Since FIFA and adidas became partners over 30 years ago, the award's official name has been "adidas Golden Shoe".
5 Salenko is the only player to win the award playing for a team that were eliminated in the group stages. His six goals are the only international goals he ever scored.
6 During the tournament, after the group stage match against Costa Rica, Ronaldo logged a protest against the crediting of a goal as an own goal, and FIFA granted him the change.
7 Müller, Villa, Sneijder and Forlán tied with 5 goals. Müller won by virtue of having more assists (3) than the rest (each had 1). Villa won the Silver Boot due to playing fewer minutes than Sneijder, and Sneijder won the Bronze Boot due to having played fewer minutes than Forlán.
Read more about this topic: FIFA World Cup Awards
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