Lionel Messi (Image Via Getty)Lionel Messi has won almost every major trophy in football, but there is one FIFA World Cup award that has always stayed out of his reach. Despite scoring 13 goals across five World Cups and leading Argentina to the 2022 title, Messi has never won the FIFA World Cup Golden Boot. His closest chance came in Qatar, where he scored seven goals but finished one behind Kylian Mbappé, who ended the tournament with eight. FIFA World Cup Golden Boot winners by yearThe FIFA World Cup Golden Boot is given to the player who scores the most goals during the tournament. The award has gone to some of football’s biggest names over the years, but Lionel Messi has never been on the winners list.World CupGolden Boot winnerGoals2022Kylian Mbappé82018Harry Kane62014James Rodríguez62010Thomas Müller52006Miroslav Klose52002Ronaldo81998Davor Šuker61994Oleg Salenko*61994Hristo Stoichkov*61990Salvatore Schillaci61986Gary Lineker61982Paolo Rossi61978Mario Kempes61974Grzegorz Lato71970Gerd Müller101966Eusébio91962Flórián Albert, Garrincha, Dražan Jerković, Leonel Sánchez, Valentin Ivanov and Vavá**41958Just Fontaine131954Sándor Kocsis111950Ademir91938Leônidas71934Oldřich Nejedlý51930Guillermo Stábile8*Shared award. **Six players finished as joint top scorers. How many FIFA World Cup Golden Boots does Lionel Messi have?Lionel Messi has never won the FIFA World Cup Golden Boot. His best chance came at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Messi scored seven goals and also provided three assists as Argentina lifted the trophy. However, Kylian Mbappé scored a hat-trick in the final against Argentina to finish the tournament with eight goals and claim the Golden Boot.Although Messi missed out on the top scorer award, he was named the FIFA World Cup Golden Ball winner as the tournament’s best player. It was the second time he received that honor after first winning it at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.Lionel Messi’s World Cup goals and closest Golden Boot finishMessi finished his World Cup career with 13 goals, making him Argentina’s all-time top scorer in the tournament. He scored once in 2006, none in 2010, four in 2014, one in 2018 and seven in 2022.Even with that impressive record, he never finished as the tournament’s highest scorer. His seven goals in Qatar remain his closest attempt at winning the Golden Boot. Instead, that World Cup will always be remembered for helping him complete his career by lifting the one trophy he wanted most.