Race for the Golden Boot: Who will be top goal scorer?

With both semifinals settled and Spain set to face England in the final, the Golden Boot race at the 2023 Women’s World Cup is drawing to a conclusion with just two games remaining.

After the group stage produced an impressive 126 goals (with only two nations failing to find the net), the knockout phase added 35 more goals to that tally.

That takes the running total for the tournament to 161 goals scored in 62 matches, an average of 2.59 per game.

Despite Japan‘s quarterfinal exit at the hands of Sweden, Hinata Miyazawa remains the top scorer after the 23-year-old attacking midfielder left the tournament with five goals.

However, with both the third-place playoff and the final left to be played this weekend, there are still several active players from the four teams involved who all stand a chance of overtaking Miyazawa.

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How Golden Boot award is decided

As always, the Golden Boot award will be bestowed upon the individual player who scores the most goals at the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Should multiple players finish level at the top of the standings, the award will be decided using tiebreakers.

Should two or more players finish with the same number of goals, the Golden Boot will go to the player with the most assists. If that still isn’t enough to separate them, the award will go to the player with the lowest total minutes on the pitch (ergo, the highest goals-per-minute rate).

Any goals scored in penalty shootouts will not count toward the total.

The 2023 Golden Boot contenders

After opening the scoring for Sweden in their quarterfinal win over Japan, defender Amanda Ilestedt drew within one goal of Miyazawa, courtesy of her team’s set-piece prowess. Three other players — Kadidiatou Diani of France, Alexandra Popp of Germany and Jill Roord of Netherlands — also have four goals, although only Ilestedt remains active at the World Cup.

Sweden were beaten 2-1 by Spain in their semifinal, but Ilestedt still has a chance to usurp Miyazawa in the Golden Boot race when her country contest the third-place playoff against co-hosts Australia on Saturday in Brisbane, the day before the final in Sydney.

Just behind the Golden Boot front-runners are 11 players who have three goals, with eight of them still active at the tournament.

After both scored in England’s 3-1 semifinal victory over Australia, Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo join fellow Lioness Lauren James with three goals, with the latter set to return from suspension in time to take part in the final. Should the Golden Boot race require a tiebreaker, it’s worth noting that James is also tied for the most assists with three and is the only remaining active player with that many.

Meanwhile, fellow finalists Spain also have three players with three goals in Aitana Bonmatí, Jennifer Hermoso and Alba Redondo. Rebecka Blomqvist of Sweden and Hayley Raso of Australia also have three goals apiece and will be hoping to add to their hauls when the two nations come face to face Saturday.

Also on three goals are Brazil‘s Ary Borges and Norway‘s Sophie Román Haug — who both scored hat tricks in the group stage — and France’s Eugénie Le Sommer, but those three have all been eliminated from the competition.

Women’s World Cup Golden Boot history

The Golden Boot was first awarded at the inaugural 1991 Women’s World Cup in China, where USWNT forward Michelle Akers scored 10 goals to take the plaudits with an impressive tally that has never been bettered at a Women’s World Cup.

Megan Rapinoe of the United States is the reigning Women’s World Cup Golden Boot winner after scoring six goals as the USWNT emerged triumphant at the 2019 tournament in France. Her teammate Alex Morgan also scored six goals at the 2019 World Cup and also equalled Rapinoe’s assist count of three, so Rapinoe was ultimately awarded the Golden Boot because she had spent less time on the pitch (428 minutes, to Morgan’s 490).

Rapinoe claiming the award also meant that the U.S. joined Brazil and Germany as the only nations to have had their players win Golden Boots at two different Women’s World Cups.

The only time the award has been shared was in 1999, when Brazil’s Sissi and China’s Sun Wen both scored seven times. Sun’s goals powered China to the final, and she scored in the penalty shootout after that match ended 0-0, but the host United States emerged victorious.

Women’s World Cup player trophies

The 2023 Women’s World Cup Golden Boot trophy itself is a lifelike cast of a football boot in silver metal with a thin golden coating, affixed to a sturdy frosted glass base. There are also silver and bronze versions given to the second- and third-highest-scoring players at the tournament, respectively.

As well as the Golden Boot, a number of other individual awards will be handed out at the conclusion of the World Cup.

The Golden Ball is awarded to the best overall player of the tournament, as decided by media representatives selecting from a shortlist drawn up by the FIFA technical committee, as well as the Silver and Bronze Ball for the second- and third-best players on show.

Rapinoe also took this prize home in 2019, with teammate Rose Lavelle coming third in the vote behind England’s Lucy Bronze. Unsurprisingly, Rapinoe ended the year by winning the Ballon d’Or, too.

The Golden Glove award is also awarded to the best overall goalkeeper at the tournament, and is decided by FIFA’s Technical Study Group. By winning this prize at both the 2011 and 2015 tournaments, former U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo is the only player to win twice in any individual award category at a Women’s World Cup.