Who is Out in Front in the Contest for the Golden Shoe?

The contest for the European Golden Shoe is heating up as the 2025-26 season approaches its midway point.

With a new winner in every one of the previous three campaigns, the prize remains up for grabs. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based player to secure the trophy back in 2022-23.

The prolific Norwegian striker is back in the running this term, but faces formidable rivalry from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures left to play, other players still have an opportunity to enter the contest.

What is the European Golden Shoe Award?

The European Golden Shoe was introduced in the 1967-68 by the French publication L'Equipe to celebrate the top scorer in league matches from a European top-flight league.

Since the 1997-98, the prize has been overseen by European Sports Media, which implemented a points-based points system. Under this format, a player's tallies are multiplied by a specific multiplier based on the UEFA coefficient of their league.

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

For leagues ranked from sixth to twenty-second in UEFA rankings, such as the Portuguese Primeira Liga, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in lower-ranked European leagues carry one point.

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

If the deadlock persists, the next deciding factor is the total of league assists, followed by the fewest goals from the penalty spot. Only if these criteria are exhausted would the award be split.

Who are the Main Challengers?

As it stands, a three-way battle exists 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 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 place is RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvia's club RFS, who has netted 28 goals (28 points) across their 36 league games in 2025.

Feyenoord striker Ayase Ueda is tied for fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie fixtures this term.

The rest of the top 10 is made up of players from leagues that operate 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 legends.

Portuguese legend Eusebio won the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for Benfica. He later won the award for a second time in the 1972-73 season.

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has secured the record number of Golden Shoes, collecting the award on six occasions during his long tenure at Barcelona.

Messi established the benchmark for highest tally in a single season with 50 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 first won award in the 2007-08 season with Manchester United before proceeding to win it on three further occasions with Real Madrid.

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

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

Erling Haaland scooped 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 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 very trio are battling at the summit of the standings again this season, with Kane presently out in front the pack.