‘Didn’t Know It Was a Thing’—Jude Bellingham Celebrates Mystery World Cup Award
Jude Bellingham has taken to social media to celebrate his receipt of the 2026 World Cup Bronze Boot—an award he did not even know existed until it turned up on his doorstep.
England’s talismanic midfielder enjoyed a strong summer, netting seven goals for Thomas Tuchel’s side, but left feeling a sense of frustration after the Three Lions bowed out in the semifinals against Argentina.
A third-place medal was not the only prize with which Bellingham left North America as he took to his JB5 app to reveal he has now picked up the Bronze Boot—the award given to the third-highest scorer at the tournament.
Bellingham’s return of seven goals was bettered only by Lionel Messi, whose receipt of the Silver Boot for his eight goals remains private, and the 10-goal haul of eventual Golden Boot winner Kylian Mbappé.
“Bronze Boot from the WC...” Bellingham wrote. “Didn’t know it was a thing but thanks anyway.”
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The History of the Bronze Boot
While Bellingham has evidently never noticed it, the Bronze Boot was actually first awarded back in 1982—the first World Cup to feature physical awards for goalscoring.
Then known as the Bronze Shoe, it was Brazilian great Zico who picked up the first-ever award for his four goals at the 1982 World Cup in Spain.
It was, however, only sporadically awarded over the six tournaments that followed. Indeed, there were no winners in 1986, 1998 or 2002, when two players finished tied for the Silver Shoe and two of those awards were handed out instead.
Greats such as Gary Lineker, Roger Milla, Romário and Ronaldo all lifted the Bronze Shoe before the name of the awards changed from Shoe to Boot in 2010.
Bellingham becomes the fifth recipient of the Bronze Boot as it is known today, joining a veritable who’s who of international superstars. Dutch great Wesley Sneijder was followed by Neymar, Romelu Lukaku and Olivier Giroud, who was the last winner before the Real Madrid midfielder’s success this summer.
With seven goals to his name, Bellingham is the leading scorer to have ever finished third in the World Cup scoring charts, thanks in no small part to the expanded nature of this summer’s tournament. Prior to this summer, seven goals would have won the Golden Boot at all-bar eight World Cups since the competition was founded in 1930.
World Cup Bronze Boot History
Year | Golden Boot | Silver Boot | Bronze Boot |
|---|---|---|---|
1930 | Guillermo Stábile (8) | Pedro Cea (5) | Bert Patenaude (4) |
1934 | Oldřich Nejedlý (5) | Edmund Conen, Angelo Schiavio (4) | - |
1938 | Leônidas (7) | György Sárosi, Gyula Zsengellér, Silvio Piola (5) | - |
1950 | Ademir (9) | Óscar Míguez (5) | Alcides Ghiggia, Chico, Estanislau Basora, Telmo Zarra (4) |
1954 | Sándor Kocsis (11) | Josef Hügi, Max Morlock, Erich Probst (6) | - |
1958 | Just Fontaine (13) | Pelé, Helmut Rahn (6) | - |
1962 | Flórián Albert, Valentin Ivanov, Garrincha, Vavá, Dražan Jerković, Leonel Sánchez (4) | - | - |
1966 | Eusébio (9) | Helmut Haller (6) | Franz Beckenbauer, Ferenc Bene, Geoff Hurst, Valeriy Porkujan (4) |
1970 | Gerd Müller (10) | Jairzinho (7) | Teófilo Cubillas (5) |
1974 | Grzegorz Lato (7) | Johan Neeskens, Andrzej Szarmach (5) | - |
1978 | Mario Kempes (6) | Teófilo Cubillas (5) | Rob Rensenbrink (5) |
1982 | Paolo Rossi (6) | Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (5) | Zico (4) |
1986 | Gary Lineker (6) | Emilio Butragueño, Careca, Diego Maradona (5) | - |
1990 | Salvatore Schillaci (6) | Tomáš Skuhravý (5) | Gary Lineker, Roger Milla (4) |
1994 | Oleg Salenko, Hristo Stoichkov (6) | - | Kennet Andersson, Romário (5) |
1998 | Davor Šuker (6) | Gabriel Batistuta, Christian Vieri (5) | - |
2002 | Ronaldo (8) | Miroslav Klose, Rivaldo (5) | - |
2006 | Miroslav Klose (5) | Hernán Crespo (3) | Ronaldo (3) |
2010 | Thomas Müller (5) | David Villa (5) | Wesley Sneijder (5) |
2014 | James Rodríguez (6) | Thomas Müller (5) | Neymar (4) |
2018 | Harry Kane (6) | Antoine Griezmann (4) | Romelu Lukaku (4) |
2022 | Kylian Mbappé (8) | Lionel Messi (7) | Olivier Giroud (4) |
2026 | Kylian Mbappé (10) | Lionel Messi (8) | Jude Bellingham (7) |
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