2022 World Cup Top Goalscorer Tips – Odds & Predictions

One of the most popular betting markets when it comes to football tournaments, and especially the World Cup, is the player to finish as the Top Goalscorer of the competition.

Unlike betting on the winner of the tournament, which is nearly always won by one of the favourites, players have claimed the Top Goalscorer award when playing for countries that haven’t necessarily reached the final. This makes selecting a player in the market a lot more interesting.

Although players who play for teams that are tipped to do well have a greater chance of scoring more goals due to the additional minutes on the pitch, there are other factors to take into account such as the group fixtures which will likely be where the majority of goals are scored against lesser teams.

Before we get started looking at the favourites to claim this year’s Golden Boot, remember to take a look at our other World Cup Betting Tips as we’ll be covering every game throughout the tournament.

World Cup Top Goalscorers By Year

Each team will play a maximum of 7 games throughout the tournament but as you can see from the list of past World Cup top goalscorers, some players have been able to pick up the Golden Boot by playing just 6, 5 or even 3 games.

World Cup Top Scorer Live Odds

Below is a list of players, along with their live odds, to finish as the Top Scorer of the 2022 World Cup.

Player	Country	Live Odds	Bookie
Kylian Mbappe	France	9/5
Lionel Messi	Argentina	8/15
Richarlison	Brazil	33/1
Alvaro Morata	Spain	33/1
Olivier Giroud	France	20/1
Marcus Rashford	England	33/1
Cody Gakpo	Netherlands	33/1
Bukayo Saka	England	33/1
Harry Kane	England	25/1
Breel Embolo	Portugal	40/1
Andrej Kramaric	Croatia	175/1
Bruno Fernandes	Argentina	100/1
Cristiano Ronaldo	Brazil	125/1
Ferran Torres	Portugal	50/1

Harry Kane

Harry Kane is the bookies’ favourite to pick up the Golden Boot at this years World Cup. The England forward scored more goals than any other player at Russia 2018 and was just one goal shy of picking up the boot at Euro 2020. Kane has also been firing them in for his club this season with only Erling Haarland scoring more in the Premier League. However, Kane only netted two throughout England’s six-game Nations League campaign this year and both of those goals came from the penalty spot. With doubts around how England will perform in this year’s tournament, I really don’t think Kane is a good bet at the shortest odds of all the players.

Kylian Mbappe

Kylian Mbappe has netted 11 goals for PSG this term and 2 throughout France’s poor Nations League group fixtures. He’s only 23 and further improvement is expected from the youngster. He’ll definitely want to impress on the big stage this year and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him up there as a contender for top scorer.

Karim Benzema

Karim Benzema may have 11 years on his French teammate but he last season proved that he has no plans of slowing down by scoring an impressive 44 goals in 46 matches for Real Madrid. Although still a quality player, he wouldn’t be my choice of top scorer in this year’s World Cup.

Lionel Messi & Cristiano Ronaldo

This will be the last time we see these two footballing greats play together, or alone, in a World Cup. It would be great to see them go head-to-head in the running for the golden boot and both certainly have a chance.

In terms of goals per game, I’d have to side with Ronaldo who has the ability to net multiple times in games. However, Argentina are tipped to go further in the tournament and so if Ronaldo was to pick up the award, he’d have to hit the ground running in the group games. Matches against Uruguay, Korea Republic and Ghana should provide him with opportunities and he’ll be eager to impress in his last ever World Cup.

Neymar

Brazil certainly aren’t short of attacking options with the likes of Roberto Firmino (Liverpool), Vinicius Junior (Real Madrid), Antony (Manchester United), Richarlison (Tottenham), Raphinha (Barcelona), Rodrygo (Real Madrid), Matheus Cunha (Atletico Madrid) and Pedro (Flamengo) all at their disposal. However, Neymar will be one of the first names on the team sheet and the forward will be looking to add to his 75 goals tally in 121 games for Brazil in the upcoming tournament.

Neymar has scored 11 goals in 13 games for PSG this season and odds of 17/1 look very tempting for him to finish as the top scorer in the World Cup.

When a team has so many players capable of scoring, this can be somewhat of a concern when backing one to finish as top scorer. However, with Neymar being the nominated penalty taker there’s no doubt that he’ll get on the scoresheet throughout the tournament.

Several Others To Consider

Along with the above, there are several other contenders for the Golden Boost at the 2022 World Cup.

Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku (20/1) is one of them and he’ll surely be the player bagging the goals if his side progresses to the later stages of the tournament.

My World Cup Winner Tips included Netherlands and if they were to reach the final, some of their players would be in with a chance of scoring the most goals. Memphis Depay (25/1) has scored 42 goals in 81 games for his country but with the team currently firing on all cylinders, he has a great chance of improving on his averages. Depay bagged two in Netherland’s impressive 4-1 win against Belgium in the Nations League and another a week and a half later against Wales. He’s only played 2 games for Barcelona this season due to injury and the arrival of Robert Lewandowski but that shouldn’t hinder his chances of gaining a place in the starting XI for his country providing that he is fit.

Brazil’s Richarlison (33/1) has bagged 3 goals in his sides last two international friendlies along with 2 in the Champions League this season for Tottenham. He could be a player to watch throughout the tournament but it’s whether or not he is gifted maximum game time as to if he’ll be in contention for the top scorer award.

We also can’t afford to ignore Barcelona & Poland striker Robert Lewandowski (50/1) who is still banging them in at the age of 34. The veteran has scored 12 in 10 games for Barca this season and clearly hasn’t lost his touch since moving from Bayern. His big price of 50/1 is mainly due to the fact that Poland are not expected to reach the later stages of the tournament and are up against it in the group stages having been drawn into Group C along with Argentina, Mexico and Saudi Arabia. The latter should prove to be no threat but Mexico could be and with Argentina expected to finish top, should Poland follow them into the knockout stages, they would face the winner of Group D which would likely be France or Denmark.

World Cup Top Scorer Tips

With Netherlands having one of the easier groups, I think Depay at 25/1 is good value. If he can bag 3-4 in those matches, he’ll definitely be in the running for the most goals throughout the tournament. An each way bet pays out at 1/4 odds and on the top four goalscorers which would be somewhat of a more safer bet.

I’ll also be backing Neymar as Brazil can put multiple goals past the best of teams and if they’re in form throughout the tournament, Neymar should play a big part in that in front of goal.

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