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The competition for the Golden Boot trophy is heating up as the current season nears its midway point.

With a different winner in every one of the previous three campaigns, the honor remains highly contested. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based forward to claim the award back in 2022-23.

The prolific Norwegian goal-scorer is once again in the hunt this term, but encounters tough competition from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures left to play, other players still have time to throw their hat into the fray.

Understanding the European Golden Shoe Award?

The European Golden Shoe was introduced in the 1967-68 by the France-based publication L'Equipe to recognize the top goalscorer in league matches from a European top division league.

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

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

For competitions ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA's rankings, such as the Portuguese Primeira Liga, goals are worth one and a half points. Goals in all other European leagues carry one point.

While the honor has been shared on multiple occasions in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 season dictates that in the case of a points tie, the award goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the deadlock remains, the subsequent tiebreaker is the total of league assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only if these tiebreakers are used would the prize be shared.

Who are the Primary Contenders?

Currently, a three-horse battle is underway for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the three previous winners split by just a single goal.

• Harry Kane (England captain) leads with 19 goals (38 points) from 15 Bundesliga games.
• Erling Haaland also has 19 goals (38 points) from 17 Premier League outings.
• Kylian Mbappe sits just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga matches.

In fourth place is RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvia's club RFS, who has scored 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 term.

The rest of the top 10 is made up of players from leagues that operate on a calendar year schedule.

Reviewing Previous Recipients

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

Portuguese legend Eusébio won the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring forty-two goals for Benfica. He later won the award for a second time in the 1972-73 season.

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

Messi established the benchmark for most goals in a campaign with fifty in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the first and only player to date to win it in three successive seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese superstar 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 netted 32 goals for Liverpool FC.

The prize has seen a new 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 secured 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 31 goals (62 points) for Real Madrid in 2024-25.

Now, the very trio are vying at the top of the standings once more this campaign, with Kane presently leading the pack.