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The contest for the prestigious Golden Shoe is reaching a fever pitch as the 2025-26 season passes its mid-season juncture.

With a new winner in every one of the past three campaigns, the honor remains up for grabs. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based forward to secure the trophy back in 2022-23.

The prolific Norwegian striker is once again in the running this season, but faces tough competition from German Bundesliga marksman Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures remaining, other players still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the contest.

Understanding the European Golden Shoe Award?

The Golden Boot award was inaugurated in the 1967-68 by the France-based publication L'Equipe to recognize the top goalscorer in league matches from a European top division league.

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

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

For leagues ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA rankings, such as the Portuguese league, goals are worth one and a half points. Goals in all other European leagues carry one point.

While the honor has been jointly won on multiple occasions in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 states that in the case of a tie, the award goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the deadlock remains, the subsequent deciding factor is the total of assists, followed by the least goals from the penalty spot. Only after these tiebreakers are exhausted would the prize be shared.

Identifying the Leading Contenders?

At present, a three-horse battle is underway 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 appearances.
• Kylian Mbappe sits just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

In fourth place is RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvian club RFS, who has netted 28 goals (28 points) across the club's 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 season.

The rest of the top 10 is made up of players from leagues that operate on a calendar year schedule.

Reviewing Past Winners

Throughout its 59-year history, the Golden Shoe has been awarded to some of football's most iconic names.

Portuguese legend Eusébio won the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for Benfica. He later secured the award for a second time in the 1972-73.

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has won the record number of Golden Shoes, collecting the honor on six times during his 17-year tenure at Barcelona.

Messi established the benchmark for highest tally in a campaign with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the first and only player to date to win it in three straight seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 season with Manchester United before proceeding to win it three more times 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.

The award has seen a different winner in every one 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 secured his first Golden Shoe with the same goal tally for Bayern Munich the next season.

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

Now, the same three players are competing at the top of the standings again this season, with Kane currently leading the pack.