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The contest for the European Golden Shoe is heating up as the current season nears its halfway mark.

With a new winner in each of the last three campaigns, the honor remains up for grabs. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based striker to claim the award back in the 2022-23 season.

The prodigious Norwegian striker is once again in the mix this term, but encounters formidable rivalry from Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of games left to play, other talents still have an opportunity to enter the contest.

Understanding the European Golden Shoe Award?

The Golden Boot award was first launched in the 1967-68 by the French newspaper L'Equipe to honor 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 coefficient based on the strength ranking of their domestic competition.

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

For leagues ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA list, such as the Portuguese Primeira Liga, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in lower-ranked European leagues carry one point.

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

If the deadlock remains, the next deciding factor is the total of assists, followed by the least goals from the penalty spot. Only if these tiebreakers are exhausted would the award be shared.

Who are the Primary Contenders?

Currently, a three-way tussle exists for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the three most recent winners split by just a single 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 appearances.
• Kylian Mbappe sits just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

In fourth place is RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvian club RFS, who has scored 28 goals (28 points) across their 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 top 10 is made up of players from leagues that operate on a January-to-December schedule.

Reviewing Previous Winners

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

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

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has secured the most Golden Shoes, claiming the award on six separate times during his 17-year spell at 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 ever to win it in three successive seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 with Man Utd before going on to win it on three further occasions 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 netted 32 goals for Liverpool FC.

The prize has seen a new winner in every one 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 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 three players are vying at the summit of the standings again this season, with Kane currently leading the way.