🔗 Share this article

The battle for the Golden Boot trophy is intensifying as the current season nears its halfway mark.

With a different winner in every one of the past three campaigns, the award remains up for grabs. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based forward to win the award back in the 2022-23 season.

The prolific Norwegian goal-scorer is back in the hunt this season, but faces tough competition from German Bundesliga marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many matches left to play, other talents still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the contest.

What is the European Golden Shoe Award?

The European Golden Shoe was inaugurated in the 1967-68 season by the French newspaper L'Equipe to recognize the top scorer in domestic league matches from a European top division league.

Since the 1997-98, the prize has been administered by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted scoring system. Under this method, a player's goals are multiplied by a designated multiplier based on the UEFA coefficient of their domestic competition.

Goals scored in Europe's top five leagues—the English Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, and French Ligue 1—are valued at two points each.

For leagues ranked from sixth to twenty-second in UEFA list, such as the Portuguese Primeira Liga, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in all other European leagues carry one point.

While the award has been shared on several occasions in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 dictates that in the case of a points tie, the award goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the tie persists, the next deciding factor is the number of assists, followed by the least penalties scored. Only after these tiebreakers are exhausted would the prize be shared.

Who are the Primary Contenders?

Currently, a three-way tussle is underway for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the trio of previous winners separated by just a single goal.

• Harry Kane (English captain) leads with 19 goals (38 points) from 15 Bundesliga matches.
• Erling Haaland also has 19 goals (38 points) from 17 Premier League appearances.
• Kylian Mbappe sits just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga matches.

In fourth place is Darko Lemajic of Latvia's club RFS, who has netted 28 goals (28 points) across the club's 36 league games in 2025.

Feyenoord striker Ayase Ueda is tied for fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie fixtures this term.

The remainder of the top 10 is made up of players from leagues that function on a January-to-December schedule.

A Look at Previous Recipients

Throughout its nearly six-decade existence, the Golden Shoe has been claimed by some of football's biggest legends.

Portuguese legend Eusébio claimed the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring forty-two goals for SL Benfica. He then secured the award for a second time in the 1972-73 season.

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has won the most Golden Shoes, collecting the award on six separate occasions during his long spell at FC Barcelona.

Messi set the record for most goals in a single season with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to ever to win it in three successive seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 with Manchester United before going on to win it on three further occasions with Real Madrid.

The inaugural player to win the award while at an club in England was Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he netted thirty-two goals for Liverpool.

The award has seen a new winner in each of the last three seasons.

Erling Haaland scooped the prize for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his maiden Golden Shoe with the identical goal tally for Bayern Munich the following season.

Kylian Mbappe is the current winner of the award after scoring 31 goals (62 points) for Real Madrid in 2024-25.

Now, the very trio are vying at the top of the standings again this campaign, with Kane presently leading the pack.