🔗 Share this article

The battle for the Golden Boot trophy is heating up as the current season passes its halfway mark.

With a new winner in each of the past three campaigns, the prize remains highly contested. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based striker to secure the trophy back in the 2022-23 season.

The prolific Norwegian striker is once again in the running this term, but faces formidable rivalry from Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane and Real Madrid phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of games left to play, other players still have time to enter the contest.

What is the Golden Shoe?

The European Golden Shoe was introduced in the 1967-68 season by the France-based newspaper L'Equipe to recognize the top scorer in 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 scoring system. Under this format, a player's tallies are multiplied by a designated coefficient based on the UEFA coefficient of their league.

Goals scored in Europe's five major leagues—the Premier League, 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 are worth one point.

While the honor has been jointly won on multiple instances in the past, a regulation update 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 persists, the next deciding factor is the number of assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only after these tiebreakers are used would the award be split.

Who are the Leading Contenders?

Currently, a three-way battle exists for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the trio of previous winners split by just a solitary 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 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 tied for fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie matches this term.

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

Reviewing Previous Winners

Throughout its 59-year existence, the Golden Shoe has been claimed by some of football's biggest legends.

Portuguese legend Eusebio claimed the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for Benfica. He later won the award for a second time in the 1972-73.

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has secured the most Golden Shoes, claiming the award on six separate occasions during his long tenure at Barcelona.

Messi set the record for most goals in a campaign with fifty in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to ever to win it in three straight seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 with Manchester United before proceeding to win it three more times 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 32 goals for Liverpool.

The award has seen a different 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 thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane secured his first Golden Shoe with the same total for Bayern Munich the following season.

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 vying at the summit of the standings once more this campaign, with Kane currently leading the way.