The 2026 World Cup’s ‘Bronze Final’ – otherwise known as the third-place play-off – will see Golden Boot nominee Kylian Mbappe vie to remain top of the goalscoring standings at this tournament.
France were eliminated at the semi-final stage on Tuesday by an organised and ruthless Spain outfit who nullified the French threat with efficiency.
Mbappe has scored 20 goals at the World Cup, including eight at the 2026 edition, putting him in pole position to be crowned top scorer – but if he nets in the third-place play-off, will they count towards his tournament total?
Do goals scored in the third place play-off count towards the Golden Boot?
While many write off the third-place play-off as the match nobody wants to be in, it remains a fully sanctioned World Cup fixture.
That means any goals scored in the bronze-medal game absolutely count toward the Golden Boot race. After all, a goal is a goal. But not if it’s scored in a shootout.
Race for the Golden Boot 2026
- Kylian Mbappe (8 goals)
- Lionel Messi (8 goals)
- Erling Haaland (7 goals)
- Jude Bellingham (6 goals)
- Harry Kane (6 goals)
Who was the first Golden Boot winner to score in the third place play-off?
Brazil’s Leonidas was the first Golden Boot winner to score in the World Cup third place play-off.
The man who was said to have invented the bicycle kick bagged a brace as the Selecao beat Sweden 4-2 to finish third at the 1938 tournament.
Davor Suker remains the last Golden Boot winner to find the net in a World Cup third-place play-off, scoring Croatia’s winner against the Netherlands in 1998.
Since then, only two other Golden Boot recipients have featured in the bronze-medal match have been Germany’s Miroslav Klose in 2006 and England’s Harry Kane in 2018, but neither finished the game by adding to their tournament tallies.
Diego Forlan and Thomas Muller both struck in the 2010 third-place match, but did so as part of a four-way draw for the tournament’s top scorer prize, with Muller ultimately claiming the official Golden Boot trophy thanks to his superior assist tally.
