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The battle for the European Golden Shoe is intensifying as the 2025-26 season passes its midway point.

With a different winner in each of the previous three campaigns, the award remains up for grabs. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based player to win the award back in the 2022-23 season.

The prodigious Norwegian striker is back in the hunt this term, but encounters tough competition from German Bundesliga marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With many fixtures left to play, other players still have an opportunity to enter the contest.

What is 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 league matches from a European top-flight league.

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

Goals scored in the continent's five major leagues—the English Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, and 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 one and a half points. Goals in lower-ranked European leagues carry one point.

While the award has been shared on multiple occasions in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 states that in the case of a tie, the award goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the tie remains, the subsequent tiebreaker is the number of league assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only after these tiebreakers are exhausted would the prize be split.

Who are the Leading Contenders?

Currently, a three-way battle is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the trio of previous winners separated by just a single 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 just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

In fourth place is RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvian club RFS, who has scored 28 goals (28 points) across the club's 36 league games in 2025.

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

The rest of the current top ten is made up of players from leagues that function on a January-to-December schedule.

Reviewing Previous Winners

Throughout its 59-year history, the Golden Shoe has been awarded to 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 season.

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has secured the record number of Golden Shoes, claiming the award on six separate occasions during his long spell at Barcelona.

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

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 season with Manchester United before going on to win it on three further occasions 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 each 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 earned his first 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 same trio are vying at the summit of the standings again this campaign, with Kane currently leading the way.