Who is Out in Front in the Race for the Golden Shoe?

The competition for the prestigious Golden Shoe is reaching a fever pitch as the current season passes its mid-season juncture.

With a different winner in every one of the last three campaigns, the prize remains up for grabs. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based player to win the trophy back in the 2022-23 season.

The prolific Norwegian goal-scorer is back in the running this campaign, but faces formidable rivalry from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of matches left to play, other talents still have time to enter the fray.

What is the European Golden Shoe Award?

The Golden Boot award was inaugurated in the 1967-68 by the French newspaper L'Equipe to honor the highest scorer in league matches from a European top division league.

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

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

For leagues ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA list, such as the Portuguese league, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in all other European leagues carry one point.

While the honor has been jointly won on multiple occasions in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 season dictates that in the event of a tie, the trophy goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the tie persists, the subsequent deciding factor is the total of assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only if these tiebreakers are exhausted would the prize be split.

Who are the Main Challengers?

Currently, a three-way race is underway for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the three previous winners separated by just a single goal.

• Harry Kane (English 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 is RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvian club RFS, who has netted 28 goals (28 points) across the club's 36 league games in 2025.

Dutch side Feyenoord forward Ayase Ueda is joint-fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie fixtures this season.

The rest of the current top ten is comprised 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 claimed by some of football's biggest names.

Portuguese icon Eusebio claimed the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring forty-two goals for SL 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 separate times during his 17-year tenure at Barcelona.

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

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 season with Manchester United 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 Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he scored 32 goals for Liverpool FC.

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

Erling Haaland claimed the award for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record-equaling thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane secured his first Golden Shoe with the identical total for Bayern Munich the next year.

Kylian Mbappe is the current holder of the award after scoring 31 goals (62 points) for Real Madrid in 2024-25.

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