Who is Leading in the Contest for the Golden Shoe?

The contest for the Golden Boot trophy is intensifying as the current season passes its halfway mark.

With a new winner in every one of the previous three campaigns, the award remains up for grabs. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based striker to secure the award back in the 2022-23 season.

The prolific Norwegian goal-scorer is once again in the mix this term, but faces formidable rivalry from Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of games remaining, other talents still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the contest.

Understanding the European Golden Shoe Award?

The European Golden Shoe was first launched in the 1967-68 by the French newspaper L'Equipe to honor the leading goalscorer in league matches from a European top-flight league.

Since the 1997-98 season, the prize has been overseen by European Sports Media, which implemented a points-based scoring system. Under this method, a player's tallies are multiplied by a designated coefficient based on the UEFA coefficient of their domestic competition.

Goals scored in the continent's top five leagues—the Premier League, La Liga, German Bundesliga, Serie A, and Ligue 1—are worth two points each.

For competitions ranked from sixth to twenty-second in UEFA's list, such as the Portuguese league, goals are worth one and a half points. Goals in all other European leagues are worth one point.

While the award has been jointly won on several occasions in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 season states that in the case of a tie, the trophy goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the tie persists, the next tiebreaker is the number of league assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only after these tiebreakers are used would the award be split.

Identifying the Primary Contenders?

Currently, a three-way battle exists for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the three most recent winners separated by just a solitary 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 appearances.
• 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 joint-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 operate on a calendar year schedule.

A Look at Previous Recipients

Throughout its nearly six-decade history, the Golden Shoe has been awarded to some of football's biggest names.

Portuguese icon Eusebio claimed the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for Benfica. He later won the award for a second time in the 1972-73.

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has secured the most Golden Shoes, claiming the award on six separate times during his 17-year tenure at Barcelona.

Messi set the record for most goals in a single season 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 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 with Man Utd before proceeding to win it three more times with Real Madrid.

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

The prize has seen a new 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 earned his first Golden Shoe with the identical goal tally for Bayern Munich the next season.

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

Now, the same three players are battling at the top of the standings once more this season, with Kane presently leading the pack.