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

With a new winner in each of the last three campaigns, the prize remains wide open. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based forward to secure the award back in 2022-23.

The prolific Norwegian striker is once again in the running this season, but faces tough competition from German Bundesliga marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many fixtures left to play, other players still have time to throw their hat into the fray.

Understanding the European Golden Shoe Award?

The Golden Boot award was inaugurated in the 1967-68 season by the France-based publication L'Equipe to honor the leading goalscorer in league matches from a European top-flight league.

Since the 1997-98, the award has been administered by European Sports Media, which implemented a points-based scoring system. Under this format, a player's goals are multiplied by a designated coefficient based on the strength ranking of their domestic competition.

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

For competitions ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA's rankings, such as the Portuguese league, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in lower-ranked European leagues carry one point.

While the award has been shared on several instances in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 season states that in the case of a points tie, the award goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the tie remains, the next tiebreaker is the number of assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only after these criteria are exhausted would the award be split.

Who are the Main Challengers?

As it stands, a three-way battle is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the three previous winners separated 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 games.

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

Feyenoord striker Ayase Ueda is joint-fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie matches this season.

The remainder of the current top ten is made up of players from leagues that operate on a calendar year schedule.

Reviewing Previous Winners

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

Portuguese icon Eusébio won the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring forty-two goals for Benfica. He then secured the award for a second time in the 1972-73 season.

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has won the most Golden Shoes, collecting the award on six separate times during his long spell at FC Barcelona.

Messi set the record for highest tally 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 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 Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he scored 32 goals for Liverpool.

The prize has seen a new 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 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his maiden Golden Shoe with the same goal tally for Bayern Munich the following year.

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

Now, the very trio are competing at the top of the leaderboard once more this campaign, with Kane presently out in front the way.