The World Cup is the greatest team competition in sport, but it has always celebrated individual brilliance too.
With Golden Glove odds already building ahead of the 2026 tournament in North America, FIFA presents five individual awards at the end of each edition, each recognising a different dimension of outstanding performance. Here is a guide to each one.
The Golden Ball
The Golden Ball is the most prestigious individual award at the World Cup, presented to the tournament’s outstanding player as judged by FIFA’s Technical Study Group. It has been officially awarded since 1982, though FIFA has retroactively named winners for all previous editions dating back to 1930.
The award does not require the winner to be on the winning team. The accolade rewards sustained individual excellence across a whole tournament rather than a single result, with Zinedine Zidane even handed the prize in 2006 despite his controversial headbutt in the final.
Messi is the only player to have won the Golden Ball twice, claiming it in 2014 and again in 2022 when he finally lifted the trophy alongside it. Maradona, Ronaldo, and Luka Modric are among the other iconic winners.
The Golden Boot
The Golden Boot is awarded to the tournament’s top scorer, a prize that has been tracked since the inaugural World Cup in 1930 but formally presented since 1982, when it was known as the Golden Shoe. It was rebranded the Golden Boot in 2010.
If players finish level on goals, the first tiebreaker is goals scored from open play rather than penalties. If still level, assists separate them, and if still tied after that, minutes played is the final decider. In 2010, four players finished on five goals and Thomas Muller won on assists.
The most goals ever scored to win the award is 13, by Just Fontaine in 1958, a record that has never been broken. Kane won the award in 2018 with six goals and arrives at 2026 attempting to become the first player ever to win it twice. Kylian Mbappe is also an active contender for that record.
The Golden Glove
The Golden Glove is awarded to the tournament’s outstanding goalkeeper, selected by FIFA’s Technical Study Group based on overall performance rather than clean sheets alone. It was first presented in 1994 under the name the Lev Yashin Award, in honour of the legendary Soviet goalkeeper widely regarded as the greatest of all time, before being renamed the Golden Glove in 2010.
Emiliano Martinez won the most recent edition in 2022, his penalty shootout heroics against the Netherlands and France making him as central to Argentina’s triumph as any outfield player. He is the defending champion heading into 2026, with World Cup betting markets reflecting his status as one of the leading candidates to retain the award.
The FIFA Young Player Award
The Best Young Player Award, now officially the FIFA Young Player Award, has been presented since 2006 and recognises the outstanding player aged 21 or under at the start of the calendar year in which the tournament is played.
It is selected through a combination of fan voting and input from FIFA’s Technical Study Group. Past winners include Landon Donovan in 2002, when the award was presented informally before its official introduction, Muller in 2010, Paul Pogba in 2014, Mbappe in 2018, and Enzo Fernandez in 2022. It remains the only major FIFA World Cup award an American men’s national team player has ever won.
Lamine Yamal and Desire Doue are among the early favourites for the 2026 edition, though Yamal’s fitness ahead of the tournament adds some uncertainty to his candidacy.
The Goal of the Tournament
The Goal of the Tournament has been officially presented by FIFA since 2010, decided by a public vote on FIFA’s platforms following the conclusion of the competition. Fans select their favourite goal from the entire tournament, making it the most democratically chosen of all the individual awards.
Previous winners include James Rodriguez’s stunning chest control and volley for Colombia against Uruguay in 2014, widely considered one of the greatest goals in World Cup history, and Benjamin Pavard’s extraordinary half-volley for France against Argentina in 2018. The award rewards technique, audacity, and the kind of moment that stops a watching world in its tracks.
