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

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

The prodigious Norwegian striker is back in the running this season, but encounters tough rivalry from Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of matches left to play, other players still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the fray.

Understanding the European Golden Shoe Award?

The Golden Boot award was introduced in the 1967-68 by the French newspaper L'Equipe to honor the top scorer in domestic 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 points-based points system. Under this format, a player's goals are weighted with a designated multiplier based on the strength ranking of their league.

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

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

While the honor has been shared on several occasions in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 season dictates that in the event of a points tie, the award 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 least goals from the penalty spot. Only if these tiebreakers are exhausted would the prize be shared.

Identifying the Main Challengers?

Currently, a three-horse battle is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the trio of most recent 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 one back on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga matches.

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

Feyenoord striker Ayase Ueda is tied for fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie fixtures this season.

The rest of the current top ten is made up of players from leagues that function on a January-to-December schedule.

Reviewing Previous Winners

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

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

Messi set the benchmark for most goals in a campaign with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to date to win it in three successive seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 with Manchester United before proceeding to win it three more times with Real Madrid.

The inaugural player to win the award while at an club in England was Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he netted thirty-two goals for Liverpool.

The prize has seen a different winner in each of the past three seasons.

Erling Haaland scooped the prize for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record-equaling thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his maiden Golden Shoe with the same total for Bayern Munich the following year.

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

Now, the very three players are vying at the summit of the standings once more this season, with Kane presently out in front the pack.