Who is Out in Front in the Race for the Golden Shoe?
The competition for the prestigious Golden Shoe is heating up as the current season nears its mid-season juncture.
With a different winner in each of the last three campaigns, the award remains highly contested. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based player to secure the award back in the 2022-23 season.
The prolific Norwegian striker is back in the mix this campaign, but encounters formidable rivalry from Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of games remaining, other players still have time to enter the fray.
Understanding the European Golden Shoe Award?
The European Golden Shoe was first launched in the 1967-68 season by the France-based publication L'Equipe to celebrate the top scorer in league matches from a European top division league.
Since the 1997-98, the prize has been administered by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted scoring 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, Serie A, and Ligue 1—are valued at two points apiece.
For competitions ranked from sixth to twenty-second in UEFA's list, such as the Portuguese Primeira Liga, goals are worth one and a half points. Goals in lower-ranked European leagues carry one point.
While the honor has been shared on several occasions in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 season states that in the case of a tie, the trophy goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.
If the deadlock persists, the next deciding factor is the number of league assists, followed by the least penalties scored. Only if these tiebreakers are exhausted would the prize be split.
Who are the Main Challengers?
At present, a three-horse battle is underway for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the trio of previous winners split by just a solitary 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 one back on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga matches.
In fourth place is Darko Lemajic of Latvia's side RFS, who has netted 28 goals (28 points) across the club's 36 league games in 2025.
Feyenoord forward Ayase Ueda is joint-fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie matches this term.
The rest of the current top ten is made up of players from leagues that operate on a calendar year schedule.
Reviewing Past Recipients
Throughout its nearly six-decade history, the Golden Shoe has been claimed by some of football's most iconic stars.
Portuguese icon Eusebio claimed the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring forty-two goals for Benfica. He then won the award for a second time in the 1972-73 season.
Argentine legend Lionel Messi has secured the record number of Golden Shoes, claiming the honor on six separate times during his long tenure at Barcelona.
Messi established the record for most goals in a campaign with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to ever to win it in three straight seasons from 2016 to 2019.
Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 season with Man Utd before proceeding to win it on three further occasions with Real Madrid.
The first player to win the award while at an club in England was Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he scored thirty-two goals for Liverpool FC.
The prize has seen a different winner in each of the last three seasons.
Erling Haaland scooped 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 winner of the award after scoring thirty-one goals (62 points) for Real Madrid in 2024-25.
Now, the very trio are competing at the summit of the standings once more this campaign, with Kane presently leading the way.
