🔗 Share this article

The contest for the prestigious Golden Shoe is heating up as the 2025-26 season passes its mid-season juncture.

With a different winner in every one of the previous three campaigns, the prize remains highly contested. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based forward to secure the trophy back in 2022-23.

The prolific Norwegian goal-scorer is back in the hunt this season, but encounters stiff competition from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many matches left to play, other talents still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the fray.

What is the Golden Shoe?

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

Since the 1997-98, the award has been overseen 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 UEFA coefficient of their domestic competition.

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 competitions ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA rankings, such as the Portuguese league, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in lower-ranked European leagues carry 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 trophy goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the tie persists, the next tiebreaker is the number of league assists, followed by the least goals from the penalty spot. Only if these tiebreakers are used would the prize be split.

Who are the Leading Contenders?

Currently, a three-way tussle is underway 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 fixtures.
• 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 matches.

In fourth is RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvia's club 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 rest of the current top ten is comprised of players from leagues that function on a calendar year schedule.

A Look at Previous Recipients

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

Portuguese icon Eusebio won the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring forty-two goals for Benfica. He then won the award for a second time in the 1972-73 season.

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has won the most Golden Shoes, collecting the award on six times during his long tenure at FC Barcelona.

Messi established the benchmark for most goals in a campaign with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the first and only player to ever to win it in three straight seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese megastar 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 inaugural player to win the award while at an English club was Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he netted 32 goals for Liverpool FC.

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

Erling Haaland claimed the award for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record-equaling 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his maiden Golden Shoe with the same goal tally for Bayern Munich the next season.

Kylian Mbappe is the current holder of the award after scoring 31 goals (62 points) for Real Madrid in 2024-25.

Now, the very three players are vying at the top of the standings once more this season, with Kane currently out in front the way.