🔗 Share this article

The competition for the European Golden Shoe is intensifying as the current season nears its mid-season juncture.

With a new winner in each of the last three campaigns, the honor remains up for grabs. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based forward to claim the trophy back in 2022-23.

The prodigious Norwegian goal-scorer is back in the running this campaign, but faces stiff rivalry from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many games left to play, other players still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the fray.

Understanding the European Golden Shoe Award?

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

Since the 1997-98, the prize has been overseen by European Sports Media, which introduced a weighted scoring system. Under this method, a player's goals are multiplied by a designated multiplier based on the strength ranking of their domestic competition.

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

For competitions ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA rankings, 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 shared on multiple instances in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 season states that in the case of a tie, the trophy goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the deadlock remains, the next deciding factor is the number of league assists, followed by the fewest goals from the penalty spot. Only after these tiebreakers are exhausted would the prize be split.

Who are the Leading Contenders?

Currently, a three-horse battle is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the trio of most recent winners separated by just a single 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 outings.
• Kylian Mbappe sits one back on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

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

Feyenoord forward Ayase Ueda is joint-fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie matches this term.

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

A Look at Previous Winners

Throughout its nearly six-decade existence, the Golden Shoe has been claimed by some of football's most iconic names.

Portuguese icon Eusebio won the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring forty-two goals for Benfica. He later won the award for a second time in the 1972-73 season.

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

Messi established the benchmark for highest tally in a single season with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the first and only player to date to win it in three consecutive seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 season with Manchester United before proceeding 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 thirty-two goals for Liverpool.

The prize has seen a different winner in each of the last three seasons.

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

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

Now, the very trio are competing at the summit of the leaderboard again this campaign, with Kane currently out in front the way.