🔗 Share this article

The competition for the Golden Boot trophy is heating up as the 2025-26 season passes its midway point.

With a different winner in every one of the previous three campaigns, the award remains highly contested. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based forward to secure the award back in 2022-23.

The prolific Norwegian striker is once again in the hunt this season, but faces formidable competition from German Bundesliga marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of 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 first launched in the 1967-68 by the French publication L'Equipe to celebrate the top scorer in league matches from a European top division league.

Since the 1997-98, the award has been overseen by European Sports Media, which introduced a points-based points system. Under this format, a player's tallies are multiplied by a specific coefficient based on the strength ranking of their domestic competition.

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

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

While the award has been jointly won on several occasions in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 season states that in the event of a points tie, the trophy goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the deadlock remains, the next deciding factor is the total of league assists, followed by the least penalties scored. Only if these tiebreakers are used would the prize be shared.

Identifying the Leading Contenders?

At present, a three-way tussle exists for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the three most recent winners split by just a solitary goal.

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

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

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

The rest of the current top ten is made up of players from leagues that operate on a calendar year schedule.

Reviewing Previous Winners

Throughout its 59-year existence, the Golden Shoe has been won by some of football's most iconic names.

Portuguese legend Eusébio won the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring forty-two goals for Benfica. He later won the award for a second time in the 1972-73.

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has won the most Golden Shoes, collecting the honor on six times during his 17-year spell at Barcelona.

Messi established the benchmark for most goals in a campaign with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to date to win it in three successive seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 with Man Utd before going on to win it on three further occasions with Real Madrid.

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

The prize has seen a different winner in every one of the past three seasons.

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

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

Now, the very three players are competing at the summit of the leaderboard again this campaign, with Kane currently leading the way.