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The contest for the European Golden Shoe is reaching a fever pitch as the current season nears its halfway mark.

With a new winner in each of the last three campaigns, the award remains highly contested. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based striker to claim the trophy back in 2022-23.

The prolific Norwegian striker is once again in the hunt this campaign, but encounters stiff competition from Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane and Real Madrid phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of games left to play, other talents still have an opportunity to enter the fray.

Understanding 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 leading scorer in domestic league matches from a European top division league.

Since the 1997-98 season, the prize has been overseen by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted scoring system. Under this method, a player's goals are multiplied by a specific coefficient based on the strength ranking of their league.

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

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

While the honor has been shared on several occasions in the past, a rule change 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 tie persists, the subsequent deciding factor is the number of league assists, followed by the fewest goals from the penalty spot. Only if these criteria are exhausted would the prize be split.

Identifying the Leading Contenders?

At present, a three-horse battle exists for the current season's 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 matches.
• 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 RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvian club RFS, who has netted 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 season.

The rest of the current top ten is made up of players from leagues that operate on a calendar year schedule.

Reviewing Past Winners

Throughout its nearly six-decade existence, the Golden Shoe has been won by some of football's most iconic stars.

Portuguese legend Eusébio won 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 legend Lionel Messi has secured the most Golden Shoes, collecting the honor on six separate occasions during his 17-year spell at FC Barcelona.

Messi set the benchmark for highest tally 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 successive seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 with Man Utd before going on 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 prize has seen a different winner in every one of the past 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 identical goal tally for Bayern Munich the following season.

Kylian Mbappe is the current holder of the award after scoring thirty-one goals (62 points) for Real Madrid in 2024-25.

Now, the very three players are competing at the summit of the standings again this campaign, with Kane presently out in front the way.