Since the 2026 World Cup qualifying matches are ongoing and it is now less than a full calendar year before the World Cup in North America begins, it’s more than fair game to start an early preview of what we can expect at next year’s World Cup tournament.
There are few players who make more headlines on the international stage than the superstars scoring the goals, so from regulars at the top of the scoring charts to new stars around world football, let’s take a look at an early projection of the top five Golden Boot candidates at the next World Cup.
5. Brazil RW Estevao Willian
Estevao Willian has been scoring wondergoals for years, even though he’s still just 18 years of age, and the new Chelsea arrival has been arguably even better than advertised – and Chelsea fans were already hyping up as the next big thing in European football.
And justifiably so. His former teammate at Palmeiras, Endrick, used to get all the hype, but the Real Madrid youngster already can’t hold a candle to what Willian is doing for Chelsea.
He has been the most electrifying dribbler in the Premier League through the first three Matchdays of the 2025/26 season, both in terms of his statistics and aesthetics.
Willian is an explosive and effective dribbler who also has a knack for scoring great goals, sealing a 3-0 victory over Chile in the World Cup qualifiers with an opportunistic bicycle kick from close range that would make the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Olivier Giroud proud. And those guys are out-and-out 9’s.
The teenage sensation’s catalogue of goals from range and acrobatic strikes are advanced beyond his years, and if you are looking for an outside candidate to blow up at the next World Cup, then look no further than Carlo Ancelotti’s new attacking gem.
4. Brazil CF Joao Pedro
Although Brazil have been disappointments on the international stage for years and years since their last great showing as champions over Germany in 2002, the Selecao finally have a young project worth getting behind in 2026 under Ancelotti.
It’s obviously a risk backing Brazil given their recent track record and the fact that the superstar of the 2010s, Neymar, has now fully declined. And Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo Goes have not looked worthy of taking on the mantle, especially not Rodrygo.
But another new Chelsea forward, Joao Pedro, has been setting the Premier League ablaze, too, and he has the goals, assists, and the all-around play to back up the hype as potentially the best player in the Premier League to start the 2025/26 season.
There are better finishers and pure goal-scorers than Pedro, sure, but there are few center forwards with his consistency, footballing IQ, and well-roundedness. With players like Willian and Vinicius around him, Joao Pedro has the tools and the opportunity to take the world by storm with one of the sport’s most attacking-friendly managers leading the way in Don Carlo.
3. Argentina RF Lionel Messi
Far from being a product of MLS, Lionel Messi is showing on the world stage that he has plenty more left in the tank, and although nobody should ever count out his long-time nemesis Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, simply put, plays on a much better team.
Argentina are the defending champions for a reason, and Messi was a massive part of that, able to outduel Kylian Mbappe in an unforgettable World Cup Final by leveraging a superior supporting cast.
Messi was also a standout as Argentina won the last Copa America, and his brace in their most recent win over Venezuela is further proof that the left-footed forward’s magic touch has not come close to leaving him.
In North America and in his stomping grounds now that he is the superstar pulling all the strings for the retirement home that is Inter Miami, Messi looks poised to have one last hurrah on the World Cup stage and is easily one of the favorites to win the Golden Boot. He’s clearly not your usual 38-year-old playing in MLS.
2. England ST Harry Kane
Harry Kane is the best out-and-out No. 9 in the world, and there’s no question that he’s taken the baton from Karim Benzema as the world’s slyest all-around No. 9 with his finishing, technical ability, veteran savvy, positioning skills, and creativity.
The former Tottenham legend has seen it all, and while he hasn’t quite done it all, now that England have a real coach in Thomas Tuchel, you can’t rule out the superstar striker finally getting a major monkey off his back by winning an international level trophy. And there’s no bigger one than the World Cup.
It’s alarming how much his own country’s fans slag him off for failures that are in no way his, because Kane is the biggest reason why England have been in the conversation as a World Cup contender or went to back-to-back European Championship Finals despite all of their problems.
Kane is as consistent as they come both as a creator and a goal-scorer, and he’s just as good for his country as he has been for his clubs Tottenham and Bayern Munich over the last decade.
England have a strong supporting cast around Kane with Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham, and others, and they should be ready to do a lot more to help their star striker shine and lead the way with Tuchel serving as a massive coaching upgrade on the laughably stagnant Gareth Southgate.
1. France CF Kylian Mbappe
Compared to Pele as a teenager when he played a pivotal role in France dominating the 2018 World Cup, Kylian Mbappe was even better in 2022 and carried a woefully underperforming – and overrated – supporting cast that was held back even further by the looming presence of the tour de incompetence that is Didier Deschamps in the manager’s chair.
Mbappe was the Golden Boot winner in 2022 in Qatar and had the greatest World Cup Final performance that was roundly wasted by the poor finishing and even more lackadaisical defending from his teammates.
The young French legend continues to add to his own legacy with each passing game for Real Madrid and France, and he has become a more effective leader for his country with every controversy he has deftly navigated on both highly pressurized teams.
Mbappe is the reigning European Golden Boot winner at the club level, and with France’s attack adding more young talent while shedding the old supporting cast as KM10 reaches his prime, it would be almost foolish to consider anyone else – as legendary and formidable as the likes of Messi and Kane are – to be favored above or even on level playing field with Mbappe.
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2010. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has run sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling.