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The battle for the European Golden Shoe is intensifying as the current season passes its midway point.

With a different winner in each of the previous three campaigns, the honor remains up for grabs. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based player to claim the trophy back in 2022-23.

The prodigious Norwegian goal-scorer is once again in the hunt this term, but faces formidable rivalry from German Bundesliga marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of games left to play, other players still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the contest.

What is the European Golden Shoe Award?

The Golden Boot award was introduced in the 1967-68 by the France-based publication L'Equipe to recognize the highest goalscorer in domestic league matches from a European top-flight league.

Since the 1997-98, the award has been administered by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted points system. Under this format, a player's tallies are weighted with a specific multiplier based on the UEFA coefficient of their league.

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

For competitions ranked from sixth to twenty-second in UEFA rankings, such as the Portuguese Primeira Liga, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in all other European leagues are worth one point.

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

If the tie persists, the subsequent deciding factor is the number of assists, followed by the least goals from the penalty spot. Only if these tiebreakers are exhausted would the award be split.

Who are the Leading Challengers?

At present, a three-horse race is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the trio of most recent winners separated by just a single goal.

• Harry Kane (England captain) leads with 19 goals (38 points) from 15 Bundesliga fixtures.
• 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 games.

In fourth is Darko Lemajic of Latvian club RFS, who has scored 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 fixtures this term.

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

Reviewing Past Recipients

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

Portuguese icon Eusébio claimed the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for SL Benfica. He then won the award for a second time in the 1972-73.

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has secured the record number of Golden Shoes, collecting the honor on six occasions during his long tenure at FC Barcelona.

Messi established 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 consecutive seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo first won 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 club in England was Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he netted thirty-two goals for Liverpool FC.

The prize has seen a different winner in every one 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 secured his maiden Golden Shoe with the identical goal tally for Bayern Munich the following 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 vying at the top of the leaderboard once more this season, with Kane presently leading the way.