🔗 Share this article

The competition for the European Golden Shoe is intensifying as the 2025-26 season nears its midway point.

With a new winner in each of the previous three campaigns, the prize remains up for grabs. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based striker to win the trophy back in the 2022-23 season.

The prodigious Norwegian striker is once again in the running this term, but encounters stiff competition from Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures remaining, other talents still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the contest.

Understanding the Golden Shoe?

The European Golden Shoe was first launched in the 1967-68 season by the French newspaper L'Equipe to celebrate the top scorer in domestic league matches from a European top division league.

Since the 1997-98, the prize has been administered by European Sports Media, which implemented a points-based scoring system. Under this format, a player's tallies are multiplied by a designated multiplier 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, Italian Serie A, and French Ligue 1—are valued at two points each.

For competitions ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA rankings, such as the Portuguese Primeira Liga, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in lower-ranked 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 dictates that in the event of a tie, the award goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the deadlock remains, the next deciding factor is the number of assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only after these criteria are exhausted would the prize be shared.

Identifying the Primary Contenders?

Currently, a three-horse tussle is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the trio of previous winners separated by just a solitary goal.

• Harry Kane (England captain) leads with 19 goals (38 points) from 15 Bundesliga matches.
• 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 is Darko Lemajic of Latvian side RFS, who has scored 28 goals (28 points) across the club's 36 league games in 2025.

Dutch side Feyenoord forward Ayase Ueda is tied for fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie matches this term.

The rest of the current top ten is comprised of players from leagues that function on a calendar year schedule.

A Look at Previous Winners

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

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

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has secured the record number of Golden Shoes, claiming the honor on six times during his 17-year tenure at Barcelona.

Messi set the benchmark for highest tally in a campaign 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 superstar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 with Manchester United before proceeding to win it three more times with Real Madrid.

The inaugural player to win the award while at an English club was Liverpool's Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he scored thirty-two 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-equaling thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his maiden Golden Shoe with the same total for Bayern Munich the next season.

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 season, with Kane currently out in front the pack.