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The battle for the Golden Boot trophy is intensifying as the 2025-26 season passes its mid-season juncture.

With a new winner in each of the past three campaigns, the honor remains highly contested. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based forward to win the trophy back in 2022-23.

The prolific Norwegian goal-scorer is back in the mix this term, but encounters formidable competition from Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many fixtures remaining, other talents still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the fray.

What is the European Golden Shoe Award?

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

Since the 1997-98 season, the prize has been administered by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted scoring system. Under this method, a player's tallies are weighted with a designated coefficient based on the UEFA coefficient of their domestic competition.

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

For leagues ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA list, such as the Portuguese league, goals are worth 1.5 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 event of a tie, the trophy goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

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

Identifying the Primary Contenders?

As it stands, a three-horse tussle is underway for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the trio of most recent winners separated by just a solitary goal.

• Harry Kane (English captain) leads with 19 goals (38 points) from 15 Bundesliga fixtures.
• 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 RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvian side RFS, who has netted 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 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 most iconic legends.

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

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has secured the record number of Golden Shoes, claiming the honor on six separate times during his long tenure at Barcelona.

Messi set the record 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 successive seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese megastar 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 first 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 award has seen a new winner in every one of the last three seasons.

Erling Haaland scooped the award for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record-equaling thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane secured his maiden Golden Shoe with the same total 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 same three players are competing at the top of the leaderboard once more this season, with Kane presently out in front the way.