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The battle for the prestigious Golden Shoe is reaching a fever pitch as the 2025-26 season nears its midway point.

With a different winner in every one of the past three campaigns, the award remains highly contested. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based player to claim the award back in the 2022-23 season.

The prodigious Norwegian goal-scorer is back in the hunt this campaign, but encounters formidable rivalry from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of matches remaining, other players still have time to throw their hat into the fray.

Understanding the Golden Shoe?

The European Golden Shoe was inaugurated in the 1967-68 season by the France-based publication L'Equipe to celebrate 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 introduced a points-based points system. Under this method, a player's goals are multiplied by a designated multiplier based on the strength ranking of their league.

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

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 carry one point.

While the honor has been jointly won on multiple instances 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 fewest minutes played.

If the tie remains, the next deciding factor is the number of assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only if these criteria are used would the prize be split.

Identifying the Main Contenders?

Currently, a three-way tussle is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the trio of 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 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 side RFS, who has scored 28 goals (28 points) across their 36 league games in 2025.

Dutch side Feyenoord striker Ayase Ueda is joint-fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie fixtures this term.

The remainder of the top 10 is comprised of players from leagues that function on a January-to-December schedule.

Reviewing Past Winners

Throughout its nearly six-decade history, the Golden Shoe has been won by some of football's biggest names.

Portuguese icon Eusébio won the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for Benfica. He later secured the award for a second time in the 1972-73.

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has secured the most Golden Shoes, claiming the honor on six occasions during his 17-year tenure at Barcelona.

Messi established the record for most goals in a single season with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to ever 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 season with Manchester United before going on to win it three more times with Real Madrid.

The first player to win the award while at an English club was Liverpool's Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he netted thirty-two goals for Liverpool.

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

Erling Haaland claimed the prize for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record-equaling 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane secured his first Golden Shoe with the same total for Bayern Munich the following 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 competing at the summit of the standings again this season, with Kane presently out in front the way.