FIFA confirmed its official 2026 World Cup individual awards on Monday, with France’s Kylian Mbappe and Spain’s Rodri headlining a list that also honoured a teenage sensation, a record-setting goalkeeper, and Lionel Messi’s historic farewell tournament.
Mbappe won the Golden Boot as the tournament’s top scorer with 10 goals, finishing two clear of Argentina’s Lionel Messi.
It is the second consecutive World Cup in which the French forward has topped the scoring charts, making him the first player to win back-to-back Golden Boots.
The achievement pushed Mbappe’s career World Cup tally to 22 goals, moving him past Messi’s mark of 21 to become the competition’s all-time leading scorer.
He also became the first player since 1966 to record 10 or more goal contributions in two separate World Cups, having managed the feat in both 2022 and 2026.
Spain’s Rodri was named the tournament’s best player, winning the Golden Ball ahead of Messi, who took Silver, and Mbappe, who claimed Bronze.
The Manchester City midfielder anchored Spain’s unbeaten run through the competition, adding the honour to the Ballon d’Or he won in 2024 following Spain’s European Championship triumph.
Spain’s dominance extended into the individual awards beyond Rodri. Goalkeeper Unai Simon won the Golden Glove after conceding just a single goal across the entire tournament, with that lone strike coming in the quarterfinal against Belgium.
Nineteen-year-old defender Pau Cubarsi was named the tournament’s best young player, having started all eight of Spain’s matches during the run to the title.
Even in defeat, Messi added to his own record book. He became the first man to start three World Cup finals and the first to captain a team in three finals, while also becoming the oldest outfield player ever to start a final at 39 years and 25 days old.
The final also produced one of the more remarkable generational milestones in the tournament’s history: Messi and Spain teenager Lamine Yamal became the first pair of opposing starters in a World Cup final separated in age by more than 20 years.
Yamal, for his part, became the first-ever teenager to win both a European Championship and a World Cup.
Emiliano Martinez produced 11 saves in the final for Argentina, the most by any goalkeeper in a World Cup final in six decades, even in a losing effort.
Spanish midfielder Fabian Ruiz became just the tenth player in history to win the World Cup and the UEFA Champions League in the same season, having appeared in both finals.
Spain’s triumph made them the seventh nation to win multiple World Cup titles and only the third reigning European champion to complete the continental-global double, following West Germany in the 1970s and their own achievement in 2010.
