What happened when four players tied for the 2010 World Cup Golden Boot? Can Messi and Mbappé do the same? | Football news

Messi and Mbappé’s battle for the Golden Boot could be decided under FIFA’s tiebreak rules after a dramatic finish.

The race for the Golden Boot at the 2026 FIFA World Cup is heading towards an end that looks remarkably like one of the tightest battles in the tournament’s history.Lionel Messi currently tops the charts with eight goals and four assists, narrowly ahead of French captain Kylian Mbappé, who has eight goals and three assists. Although both players are tied for goals, Messi leads as FIFA’s first tiebreaker is assists.With France still to face England in the play-off for third place before Argentina meet Spain in the World Cup final, the race is far from over. It’s a situation that echoes the dramatic end to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, when four players finished the tournament level with goals and FIFA had to separate them using its official tiebreakers.

The 2010 World Cup produced one of the closest Golden Boot races ever seen.German Thomas Müller, Spanish David Villa, Dutch Wesley Sneijder and Uruguayan Diego Forlán finished the tournament with five goals.Instead of declaring joint winners, FIFA applied its official ranking criteria.Müller also provided three assists, while Villa, Sneijder and Forlán finished with one assist each.It earned the German striker the Golden Boot despite all four players finishing on the same number of goals.The remaining positions were decided by the following tiebreaker: minutes played.Villa took the silver boot because he played fewer minutes than the other two players.Sneijder was awarded the bronze boot after logging fewer minutes than Forlán, leaving the Uruguayan captain fourth despite being level on goals.The final order was:

Interestingly, both Müller and Forlán scored one goal each in the third-place playoff. Germany beat Uruguay 3-2 to secure the bronze medal, but Müller’s superior assist tally ensured he remained at the top of the Golden Boot standings.

Although often described as a consolation match, the third-place play-off still counts as an official FIFA World Cup match.Every goal, assist and minute played contributes to the race for the Golden Boot.History has produced several examples where the match directly affected the outcome of the award.At the 1958 World Cup, French striker Just Fontaine scored an incredible four goals against West Germany in the third-place play-off to finish with 13 goals, a single-tournament World Cup record that still stands today.Four decades later, at the 1998 World Cup, Croatian striker Davor Šuker scored the winner in a 2-1 victory over the Netherlands in the third-place play-off. That goal took him to six goals, securing the Golden Boot ahead of all other contenders.

Why 2026 could produce another tiebreaker finish

The current standings show how balanced the race has remained.

Messi stepped up after registering two assists in Argentina’s dramatic 2-1 semi-final comeback against England. Although he didn’t score, his assists for Enzo Fernández and Lautaro Martínez took his assist tally to four, one more than Mbappé.France’s elimination did not end Mbappé’s chances as Les Bleus still face England in the play-off for third place. All goals scored there count for the Golden Boot, giving the France captain one last chance to improve before Messi plays Spain in the World Cup final.How FIFA decides on the Golden BootFIFA applies three criteria to determine the winner:

Those exact regulations decided the award in 2010 and could prove decisive once again if Messi and Mbappé finish the 2026 tournament level with goals.

In recent tournaments, the prize was often decided by big differences:

With both Messi and Mbappé still tied on eight goals, another race for the Golden Boot could end up being decided not just by goals, but by the same rules that separated Müller, Villa, Sneijder and Forlán in South Africa 16 years ago.