1930 to 2026: Full list of FIFA WC Golden Boot and Golden Ball winners | FIFA World Cup 2026

The FIFA World Cup is typically an event where the best teams from around the world face each other every four years, with the right to be called world champions on the line.

Despite the tournament being a team event, with the highest prize being the FIFA World Cup trophy, it also features several awards that recognise the individual brilliance of players throughout the tournament.

Two of the biggest individual awards at the FIFA World Cup are the FIFA World Cup Golden Boot, which is awarded to the player who scores the most goals during the tournament, and the FIFA World Cup Golden Ball, which is awarded to the best all-round player of the tournament.

But who are the individuals who have been able to win these prestigious awards in the 96-year history of the tournament? Take a look.

FIFA Golden Boot

The FIFA Golden Boot is the oldest individual award in the tournament’s history, having been presented to the top goalscorer since the inaugural edition of the competition in 1930.

While no player in the tournament’s history has been able to win the Golden Boot twice, there have been two editions in the past 96 years in which more than one player shared the award.

During the 1994 World Cup, Oleg Salenko and Hristo Stoichkov were announced as the joint winners of the FIFA Golden Boot. In 1962, six players, namely Garrincha, Vavá, Leonel Sánchez, Dražan Jerković, Flórián Albert and Valentin Ivanov, received the award as they all finished with four goals each.

FIFA World Cup: Full list of Golden Boot winners:

FIFA Golden Ball

Unlike the Golden Boot, the Golden Ball award was not introduced until the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. In the tournament’s history, only one player has been able to win the award twice, namely Argentina’s Lionel Messi, who received the FIFA World Cup Golden Ball in 2014 and 2022.

FIFA World Cup: Full list of Golden Ball winners: