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The battle for the Golden Boot trophy is intensifying as the current season nears its mid-season juncture.

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

The prodigious Norwegian goal-scorer is once again in the hunt this season, but faces stiff competition from Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of matches left to play, other talents still have time to throw their hat into the contest.

What is the European Golden Shoe Award?

The Golden Boot award was first launched in the 1967-68 season by the France-based newspaper L'Equipe to recognize the highest goalscorer in league matches from a European top-flight league.

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

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

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

While the award has been jointly won on multiple occasions 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 tie remains, the subsequent deciding factor is the total of assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only after these tiebreakers are used would the prize be shared.

Identifying the Primary Challengers?

Currently, a three-horse battle is underway for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the three most recent winners split by just a solitary goal.

• Harry Kane (English captain) leads with 19 goals (38 points) from 15 Bundesliga games.
• 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 games.

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

Feyenoord forward 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 operate on a January-to-December schedule.

Reviewing Previous Winners

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

Portuguese legend Eusébio claimed the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring forty-two goals for SL Benfica. He then secured the award for a second time in the 1972-73 season.

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has secured the most Golden Shoes, collecting the honor on six separate times during his 17-year 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 first and only player to ever to win it in three successive seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 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 Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he scored 32 goals for Liverpool FC.

The award 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 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his maiden Golden Shoe with the same total for Bayern Munich the following year.

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

Now, the very trio are competing at the top of the leaderboard once more this campaign, with Kane currently out in front the way.