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The battle for the Golden Boot trophy is intensifying as the current season nears its midway point.

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

The prodigious Norwegian goal-scorer is once again in the hunt this campaign, but faces stiff rivalry from German Bundesliga marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of matches remaining, other players still have time to enter the contest.

Understanding the European Golden Shoe Award?

The European Golden Shoe was inaugurated in the 1967-68 by the France-based publication L'Equipe to recognize the top scorer in domestic league matches from a European top-flight league.

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

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

For competitions ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA's 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 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 assists, followed by the fewest goals from the penalty spot. Only after these tiebreakers are used would the award be split.

Identifying the Primary Contenders?

At present, a three-horse tussle is underway for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the three previous winners separated by just a solitary goal.

• Harry Kane (England 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 Darko Lemajic of Latvia's side RFS, who has netted 28 goals (28 points) across their 36 league games in 2025.

Feyenoord striker 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 January-to-December schedule.

Reviewing Previous Winners

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

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

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

Messi set the benchmark for most goals in a single season with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to date to win it in three straight seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 with Manchester United before going on 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 scored thirty-two goals for Liverpool FC.

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

Erling Haaland won the award 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 same total 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 trio are vying at the top of the standings again this campaign, with Kane presently leading the way.