Ikhtisar TV Herkenrath

The 2026 World Cup is well underway and so is the race for the prestigious Golden Boot - the award given to the tournament's top scorer. There's a long and winding road to be navigated as 48 nations battle for the top prize, but which star will take home the illustrious award? Here, GOAL tracks the tournament's most prolific stars.

Michael Olise is said to be attracting admiring glances from Real Madrid, with the Blancos reportedly prepared to pay a world record transfer fee of €223 million (£191m/$255m) for the Bayern Munich winger. Is he, or anybody, worth that kind of money? Former France international Louis Saha has endeavoured to answer that question for GOAL, with some “crazy numbers” flying around.

The France national team are no strangers to World Cup soap operas, with some bizarre headlines being made down the years, but Louis Saha has told GOAL that Rayan Cherki’s apparent snubbing of head coach Didier Deschamps is “not drama”. The enigmatic Manchester City playmaker has seemingly not taken kindly to the lack of game time being passed his way at FIFA’s flagship event.

Kylian Mbappe is capable of completing a clean sweep on the trophy front in 2026, Louis Saha has told GOAL, with the France international in contention for World Cup, Golden Boot, Golden Ball and Ballon d’Hor honours. The Real Madrid forward has been starring on the grandest of stages, with the perfect response being delivered to some “strange criticism”.