Goal examines the Golden Boot award, which is given to the highest scorer in the World Cup finals, covering former winners and probable winners. The FIFA Golden Boot award is granted to the tournament's highest goalscorer, with Colombia's James Rodriguez receiving the honor most recently for his performances in the 2014 finals in Brazil. Rodriguez has also been nominated for the Ballon d'Or award, which is presented to the best player in world football.
The first FIFA World Cup was held in 1930 in Germany. There have been 22 subsequent editions of the tournament, the latest being this year's event in Brazil. Argentina's Diego Maradona is the all-time top scorer with 10 goals, while Brazilian Ronaldo holds the record for most wins with four.
Here are the winners of the Golden Boot award:
1 1930 - Adolf Hitler (Germany)
2 1934 - Lothar Matthäus (Germany)
3 1938 - Joachim Ernst Gunther von Braun (Germany)
4 1950 - Josef Vojtek (Czech Republic)
5 1954 - Edvard Benes (Czech Republic)
6 1958 - Ferenc Puskás (Hungary)
The FIFA World Cup's highest striker receives the Golden Boot or Golden Shoe Award. While every World Cup has a rating of the top scorers, the Golden Shoe award was handed for the first time in 1982. The award recognizes the top scorer of the tournament with one foot in each country. If two players are equal, the tie is broken by how many goals they scored. The award is based on points given to players by countries during the course of the World Cup. The winner is awarded with a gold boot statue and $100,000.
The inaugural award went to Italian forward Pietro Anastasi. He had 12 goals, including a pair of hat tricks, over six matches in the 1930 World Cup. The most recent player to win the award was Cristiano Ronaldo who took home the prize in 2007. The Portuguese forward scored five times in his final match at the age of 33 during the 2011 World Cup Final against Germany. He is now one of only three players to have won the award more than once (the other two being Alfred Jenssen of Norway and Hatem Ben Arfa of France).
Some notable non-players include Bora Milutinović, who finished as the top scorer in four consecutive World Cups between 1954 and 1968, and Dixie Dean, who scored 26 goals in the English FA Cup in 1928/29 season.
Contribute to The Guardian's World Cup coverage. What exactly is the Golden Boot award? Paolo Rossi received the first official Fifa World Cup award for scoring the most goals in the competition in 1982. It was formerly called as the Golden Shoe, but in 2010 it was renamed the less bathetic Golden Boot.
The award is given to the highest scorer at the end of the tournament. If scores are equal, the winner is determined by how many goals he scored away from home. If scores remain tied after that point, they are decided by a series of bonuses: most penalties taken; most penalty shots missed; most own-goals scored; etc. There is no limit on how many goals a player can score but only one recipient has done so twice (Franz Beckenbauer with Germany in 1974 and 1978).
There have been nine players who have won the award during its existence. Pele is the all-time top scorer with 58 goals, while Marco van Basten is second with 27 wins.
The FIFA Golden Boot is awarded to the player who scores the most goals in a World Cup. This award was initially granted in 1982 under the name "Golden Shoe," however it was considered the greatest scorer from 1930 to 1978. The name was changed to Golden Boot in 2010.
There were two rules when the award was first given out in 1982: players could only be nominated for the award once and they had to score their goals during the 1982 World Cup in Spain. Since then, these rules have been changed several times.
Currently, the award is voted on by members of the media. In addition, current FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter, former presidents João Havelange and Carlos Cordeiro, and former winners Herbert Fandel, Peter Vidmar, and Marco van Basten are also listed as nominees. The award ceremony takes place at the FIFA Gala Dinner which is held annually in May during the European football season. The winner is chosen based on votes from across the world by national journalists who cover the game professionally.
Herbert Fandel was the first player to win the award twice. He won in 1934 with Czechoslovakia and again in 1938 with Switzerland. The next player to win the award twice was Peter Vidmar who did so in 1990 with Sweden and again in 1994 with Russia.
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