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The battle for the European Golden Shoe is reaching a fever pitch as the 2025-26 season approaches its mid-season juncture.

With a different winner in each of the previous three campaigns, the honor remains highly contested. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based forward to secure the trophy back in 2022-23.

The prodigious Norwegian goal-scorer is back in the running this season, but encounters formidable competition from German Bundesliga marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of matches remaining, other talents still have an opportunity to enter the contest.

Understanding the European Golden Shoe Award?

The European Golden Shoe was inaugurated in the 1967-68 by the France-based newspaper L'Equipe to honor the top scorer in league matches from a European top division league.

Since the 1997-98, the prize has been administered by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted scoring system. Under this format, a player's tallies are weighted with a specific coefficient based on the strength ranking of their league.

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

For leagues ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA rankings, 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 award has been jointly won on several occasions in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 states that in the event of a tie, the trophy goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the deadlock persists, the subsequent deciding factor is the number of assists, followed by the least goals from the penalty spot. Only if these criteria are exhausted would the prize be shared.

Who are the Main Challengers?

At present, a three-horse battle is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the three previous winners split by just a solitary goal.

• Harry Kane (England 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 one back 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.

Feyenoord forward Ayase Ueda is tied for fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie matches this season.

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

Reviewing Past Winners

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

Portuguese legend Eusebio claimed the first-ever 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 won the record number of Golden Shoes, claiming the honor on six separate occasions during his long spell at FC Barcelona.

Messi set the benchmark for most goals in a single season with fifty in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to date to win it in three straight seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 season with Manchester United before proceeding to win it three more times 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 scored 32 goals for Liverpool.

The prize has seen a new winner in each of the last three seasons.

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

Kylian Mbappe is the reigning holder of the award after scoring 31 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 currently out in front the way.