Who has scored the most goals at a World Cup without winning the Golden Boot?

“Who has scored the most goals at a World Cup finals without winning the Golden Boot?” asks Sam Edwards. With Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé already on six goals and leading an elite bunch in the 2026 race, we may well see the men’s record broken this summer. As it stands, Messi shares the record – as if he needs another one – with Brazil great Jairzinho . In 2022, Messi scored seven goals and was leading the standings midway through the final – but Kylian Mbappé’s hat-trick took him to eight goals and the gilded shoe. Still, Messi got the Golden Ball for best player … and the World Cup trophy. As for Jairzinho, his seven goals in Brazil’s surge to the title was not enough to deny Gerd Müller, who scored 10 (including two hat-tricks) for third-placed West Germany. The 1954 edition had the best goals-per-game ratio (5.38) of any men’s World Cup, so it’s to be expected that three players – Germany’s Max Morlock , Austria’s Erich Probst and Swiss striker Josef Hügi – scored six each, but finished five behind the runaway winner, Hungary goal machine Sandor Kocsis. In 1958, Pelé and Helmut Rahn (six goals each) were seven behind Just Fontaine, who banged in a ridiculous 13. Unluckiest of all is Rob Rensenbrink , whose stoppage-time shot in the 1978 final took a freakish bounce and hit a post. …