🔗 Share this article

The contest for the Golden Boot trophy is heating up as the current season nears its mid-season juncture.

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

The prodigious Norwegian striker is once again in the mix this season, but faces stiff competition from Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane and Real Madrid phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of games remaining, other players still have time to throw their hat into the contest.

What is the Golden Shoe?

The European Golden Shoe was introduced in the 1967-68 season by the French publication L'Equipe to celebrate the leading scorer in league matches from a European top division league.

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

Goals scored in Europe's five major leagues—the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, and Ligue 1—are worth two points apiece.

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

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

If the tie remains, the next tiebreaker is the number of assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only after these tiebreakers are used would the prize be split.

Identifying the Leading Contenders?

At present, a three-horse battle 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 games.
• Erling Haaland also has 19 goals (38 points) from 17 Premier League appearances.
• Kylian Mbappe sits one back on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga matches.

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

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

The rest of the top 10 is comprised of players from leagues that function on a calendar year schedule.

Reviewing Past Winners

Throughout its 59-year history, the Golden Shoe has been won by some of football's biggest stars.

Portuguese legend Eusebio 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.

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has won the most Golden Shoes, collecting the award on six separate times during his 17-year tenure at FC Barcelona.

Messi set the benchmark for most goals in a campaign with fifty in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to date to win it in three successive seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first 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 scored thirty-two goals for Liverpool.

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

Erling Haaland claimed the prize for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record-equaling thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his first Golden Shoe with the identical goal tally for Bayern Munich the following 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 very trio are vying at the summit of the standings once more this campaign, with Kane currently leading the pack.