🔗 Share this article

The competition for the European Golden Shoe is reaching a fever pitch as the current season approaches its halfway mark.

With a different winner in every one of the past three campaigns, the honor remains wide open. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based striker to secure the award back in 2022-23.

The prolific Norwegian striker is back in the running this campaign, but faces formidable rivalry from German Bundesliga marksman Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of matches remaining, other players still have time to enter the fray.

What is the Golden Shoe?

The Golden Boot award was first launched in the 1967-68 by the France-based publication L'Equipe to celebrate the leading scorer in domestic league matches from a European top division league.

Since the 1997-98 season, the prize has been overseen by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted points system. Under this method, a player's goals are weighted with a specific coefficient based on the strength ranking of their league.

Goals scored in Europe's five major leagues—the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga, Serie A, and 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 lower-ranked European leagues carry one point.

While the honor has been shared on several occasions in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 dictates that in the case of a tie, the trophy goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the deadlock persists, the next deciding factor is the total of assists, followed by the least penalties scored. Only if these criteria are exhausted would the award be shared.

Identifying the Primary Contenders?

Currently, a three-horse race is underway for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the trio of previous winners split by just a single goal.

• Harry Kane (English captain) leads with 19 goals (38 points) from 15 Bundesliga fixtures.
• 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 games.

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

Dutch side Feyenoord forward Ayase Ueda is joint-fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie fixtures this season.

The rest of the current top ten is comprised of players from leagues that function on a calendar year schedule.

A Look at Previous Winners

Throughout its nearly six-decade history, the Golden Shoe has been awarded to some of football's most iconic stars.

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

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

Messi established the record for highest tally in a campaign with fifty in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to date to win it in three straight seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 season 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 Liverpool's Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he netted 32 goals for Liverpool FC.

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

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

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

Now, the same trio are battling at the summit of the leaderboard again this campaign, with Kane presently leading the pack.