Who is Out in Front in the Contest for the Golden Boot Award?

The contest for the prestigious Golden Shoe is reaching a fever pitch as the current season passes its midway point.

With a different winner in every one of the past three campaigns, the honor remains wide open. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based striker to secure the award back in 2022-23.

The prolific Norwegian goal-scorer is back in the hunt this term, but encounters formidable competition from Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many games remaining, other players still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the fray.

What is the Golden Shoe?

The European Golden Shoe was introduced in the 1967-68 season by the France-based publication L'Equipe to celebrate the leading scorer in league matches from a European top-flight league.

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

Goals scored in Europe's five major leagues—the Premier League, Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga, Serie A, and French Ligue 1—are valued at two points each.

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

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

If the deadlock persists, the next tiebreaker is the number of league assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only if these tiebreakers are exhausted would the award be shared.

Identifying the Leading Contenders?

At present, a three-way race is underway for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the trio of most recent 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 just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

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.

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 made up of players from leagues that operate on a January-to-December schedule.

Reviewing Past Winners

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

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

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has won the most Golden Shoes, collecting the honor on six separate times during his 17-year spell at Barcelona.

Messi set the record for highest tally in a campaign with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to ever to win it in three straight seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 season with Manchester United before proceeding to win it on three further occasions with Real Madrid.

The inaugural player to win the award while at an club in England was Liverpool's Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he netted 32 goals for Liverpool FC.

The prize has seen a different winner in each of the past three seasons.

Erling Haaland won the prize for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his first Golden Shoe with the identical 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 same trio are vying at the summit of the standings once more this campaign, with Kane currently out in front the way.