Spain captain Rodri won the Golden Ball while France star Kylian Mbappe secured the Golden Boot after the 2026 World Cup final on Sunday. FIFA officials handed out these major prizes at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey following Spain’s 1-0 victory over Argentina. These honours recognise the top individual performers from the expanded 48-team tournament held across North America.
Spain dominated the ceremony by winning three of the four main individual awards. Meanwhile, Mbappe made history as the first player in the modern era to win back-to-back Golden Boots. Nearly 6.9 million fans attended the 104 matches played across the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Rodri Wins Best Player of the Tournament
Spain’s midfield leader Rodri received the Golden Ball award as the tournament’s best overall player. FIFA’s Technical Study Group selected the Manchester City star following his influential performances throughout the competition. Although his basic statistics did not look the most dominant, his ability to control the tempo of matches from midfield impressed the voters.
Rodri beat Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe to the top prize. Messi got the Silver Ball for the second-best player, and Mbappe got the Bronze Ball. The award adds to Rodri’s ever-growing trophy cabinet, which includes the 2024 Ballon d’Or and Euro 2024 Player of the Tournament titles.
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Kylian Mbappe Makes History with Golden Boot
France forward Kylian Mbappe won the Golden Boot after finishing the competition as the top scorer with 10 goals. He also provided four assists during his 769 minutes of play. Therefore, Mbappe became the first player to win the Golden Boot in two consecutive World Cups after also winning it in 2022.
Mbappe reached a historic total of 22 career World Cup goals, moving him one goal ahead of Lionel Messi on the all-time list. Furthermore, he became the first man to score double figures in a single tournament since Gerd Muller did so for West Germany in 1970. However, his goals were not enough to help France finish higher than fourth place following their 6-4 loss to England in the third-place play-off.
Lionel Messi claimed the Silver Boot with eight goals and four assists. Meanwhile, England’s Jude Bellingham took the Bronze Boot with seven goals and one assist. Other top scorers included Erling Haaland with seven goals, while Harry Kane and Ousmane Dembele finished with six goals each.
READ MORE: Spain Storm Into World Cup 2026 Final With Dominant 2-0 Win Over France
Unai Simon Wins Golden Glove and Young Player Awards
Spain’s incredible defensive record resulted in more individual trophies for Unai Simon and Pau Cubarsi. Goalkeeper Unai Simon won the Golden Glove after conceding only one goal in eight matches. He kept seven clean sheets and finished the tournament with a save percentage of 90.9%. Additionally, Simon set a new World Cup record by playing 650 consecutive minutes without conceding a goal.
Meanwhile, 19-year-old defender Pau Cubarsi won the Best Young Player award. The Barcelona centre-back started regularly throughout the knockout stages and helped anchor a historic defence. He played every minute of the tournament for the champions. Cubarsi beat out his talented teammate Lamine Yamal to win this specific honour.
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Record Attendance and Tournament Success
FIFA reported a total attendance of 6,810,996 fans. This created an average crowd of 65,490 people per match. Stadiums across North America were filled to 99.7% of their capacity.
Meanwhile, some individual records were broken outside of the main awards. France’s Michael Olise set a new World Cup record by providing seven assists during the tournament. Additionally, Spain became the first team to win a World Cup while conceding only one goal across the entire competition. Ferran Torres scored the decisive winning goal for Spain.
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