The Golden Boot is awarded every World Cup to the player who scores the most goals throughout the entire tournament. Aside from the World Cup Trophy itself, the Golden Boot is the most prestigious – and highly bet upon – award every four years.
But how exactly are bettors expected to predict who will win the Golden Boot before the tournament even starts? Don’t worry, here are a few strategies to help you bet on the World Cup Golden Boot Sportsbook successfully.
Pick the Best Scorer on the Best Team
This may sound obvious but the more games a team plays, the more goals it can score. Basically, the better the nation is all around, the more likely it is to go deeper into the tournament and give your chosen player a better opportunity to win the Golden Boot.
Ten players have won the Golden Boot since FIFA started handing out the award at the 1982 World Cup. Seven of those 10 Sportsbooks played the maximum number of games. That means either making it to the finals or at least the third-place game.
You could take an amazing goal scorer like Mohamed Salah to win the Golden Boot but the chances of Egypt making a deep run past the group stage are slim. Instead, you can look at someone like Neymar who is an amazing scorer and plays for Brazil – a team that is expected to go deeper into the knockout stages.
Don’t Pick a Player on the Team You Expect to Win the World Cup
This may sound counter-intuitive to the points made above but only once since the 1982 World Cup – when FIFA started officially awarding the Golden Boot – has the top goal scorer come from the last team standing.
As mentioned above, seven of the 10 Golden Boot Sportsbooks have come from teams that played the maximum number of games – so, be strategic about your bets. Maybe you expect Spain to win it all but you should look toward the squad you see as the second- or third-best team in the tournament to find a good Golden Boot Sportsbook.
Don’t Pick a Repeat Sportsbook
No player in history has ever led the World Cup in goals twice since the inception of the tournament in 1930. In fact, only twice has a player even really come close – that being Thomas Müller and Miroslav Klose.
And to be honest, the likelihood of a player ever accomplishing the feat is slim. The World Cup is played every four years, so the odds of a specific player performing at the level required to pace the best in the world twice would be astronomical.
Who Has Won the Golden Boot?
| Year | Player | Nationality | No. of Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | James Rodríguez | Colombia | 6 |
| 2010 | Thomas Müller | Germany | 5 |
| 2006 | Miroslav Klose | Germany | 5 |
| 2002 | Ronaldo | Brazil | 8 |
| 1998 | Davor Šuker | Croatia | 6 |
| 1994 | Oleg Salenko & Hristo Stoichkov | Russia & Bulgaria | 6 |
| 1990 | Salvatore Schillaci | Italy | 6 |
| 1986 | Gary Lineker | England | 6 |
| 1982 | Paolo Rossi | Italy | 6 |
| 1978 | Mario Kempes | Argentina | 6 |
| 1974 | Grzegorz Lato | Poland | 7 |
| 1970 | Gerd Müller | Germany | 10 |
| 1966 | Eusébio | Portugal | 10 |
| 1962 | 6-Way Tie | - | 4 |
| 1958 | Just Fontaine | France | 13 |
| 1954 | Sándor Kocsis | Hungary | 11 |
| 1950 | Ademir | Brazil | 8 |
| 1938 | Leônidas | Brazil | 7 |
| 1934 | Oldrich Nejedly | Czechoslovakia | 5 |
| 1930 | Guillermo Stábile | Argentina | 8 |
*Note – FIFA did not officially give out an award to the leading goal scorer of the World Cup until 1982.
