🔗 Share this article

The contest for the European Golden Shoe is heating up as the 2025-26 season approaches its mid-season juncture.

With a new winner in every one of the last three campaigns, the prize remains up for grabs. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based forward to claim the award back in the 2022-23 season.

The prodigious Norwegian striker is back in the hunt this season, but faces tough rivalry from Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many fixtures remaining, other players still have an opportunity to enter the contest.

Understanding the Golden Shoe?

The European Golden Shoe was first launched in the 1967-68 season by the French publication L'Equipe to recognize the top scorer in domestic league matches from a European top-flight league.

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

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

For leagues ranked from sixth to twenty-second in UEFA's rankings, 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 instances in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 season dictates that in the case of a points tie, the trophy goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the tie persists, the next deciding factor is the number of league assists, followed by the least penalties scored. Only after these criteria are exhausted would the prize be split.

Who are the Main Challengers?

As it stands, a three-way race exists for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the three previous winners separated by just a single 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 outings.
• Kylian Mbappe sits one back on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

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

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

The remainder of the top 10 is made up of players from leagues that operate on a January-to-December schedule.

Reviewing Past Recipients

Throughout its nearly six-decade history, the Golden Shoe has been won by some of football's biggest names.

Portuguese legend Eusébio claimed the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for SL Benfica. He then secured the award for a second time in the 1972-73 season.

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

Messi set 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 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 season with Man Utd before going on to win it on three further occasions with Real Madrid.

The inaugural player to win the award while at an English club was Liverpool's Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he scored 32 goals for Liverpool.

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

Erling Haaland won the prize for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record 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 current winner of the award after scoring thirty-one goals (62 points) for Real Madrid in 2024-25.

Now, the very three players are battling at the summit of the standings once more this campaign, with Kane currently leading the way.