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The competition for the European Golden Shoe is intensifying as the current season nears its halfway mark.

With a new winner in each of the last three campaigns, the honor remains highly contested. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based forward to win the award back in the 2022-23 season.

The prolific Norwegian goal-scorer is once again in the mix this term, but faces tough rivalry from Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane and Real Madrid phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of matches left to play, other players still have time to throw their hat into the fray.

Understanding the Golden Shoe?

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

Since the 1997-98, the prize has been overseen by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted points system. Under this method, a player's goals are weighted with a designated multiplier based on the strength ranking of their league.

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

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

While the honor has been shared on several instances in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 dictates that in the event of a points tie, the trophy goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the tie remains, the subsequent tiebreaker is the number of assists, followed by the fewest goals from the penalty spot. Only if these tiebreakers are used would the award be shared.

Who are the Main Contenders?

Currently, a three-horse tussle exists for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the three most recent winners split by just a single 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 RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvian club 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 season.

The rest of the top 10 is made up of players from leagues that function on a January-to-December schedule.

A Look at Past Recipients

Throughout its 59-year history, the Golden Shoe has been claimed by some of football's biggest stars.

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

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has secured the record number of Golden Shoes, claiming 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 only player to date to win it in three straight seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 with Manchester United before proceeding to win it three more times 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 FC.

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

Erling Haaland won the award for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record 36 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 top of the standings once more this season, with Kane presently out in front the way.