🔗 Share this article

The contest for the European Golden Shoe is intensifying as the 2025-26 season passes its halfway mark.

With a new winner in every one of the last three campaigns, the honor remains wide open. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based player to claim the trophy back in the 2022-23 season.

The prolific Norwegian striker is back in the running this term, but encounters formidable rivalry from German Bundesliga marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of matches remaining, other talents still have time to throw their hat into the contest.

What is the Golden Shoe?

The European Golden Shoe was first launched in the 1967-68 by the France-based publication L'Equipe to honor the top scorer in league matches from a European top division league.

Since the 1997-98, the award has been overseen by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted scoring system. Under this method, a player's goals are multiplied by a specific multiplier based on the strength ranking of their domestic competition.

Goals scored in the continent's top five leagues—the Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, and Ligue 1—are valued at 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 are worth one point.

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

If the deadlock remains, the next deciding factor is the number of assists, followed by the least goals from the penalty spot. Only after these tiebreakers are used would the award be shared.

Identifying the Primary Challengers?

Currently, a three-way tussle exists for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the trio of previous winners separated by just a single 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 matches.

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

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

The remainder of the top 10 is comprised of players from leagues that operate on a calendar year schedule.

Reviewing Past Recipients

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

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 legend Lionel Messi has secured the record number of Golden Shoes, collecting the honor on six separate occasions during his long spell at Barcelona.

Messi set the record 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 straight seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 season with Man Utd before going on 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 scored 32 goals for Liverpool.

The award has seen a different winner in each of the last three seasons.

Erling Haaland claimed the prize for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record-equaling 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane secured his first Golden Shoe with the same goal tally for Bayern Munich the following year.

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

Now, the same trio are vying at the summit of the standings once more this season, with Kane currently out in front the pack.