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

The contest for the prestigious Golden Shoe is reaching a fever pitch as the current season passes its midway point.

With a different winner in every one of the last three campaigns, the award remains wide open. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based player to secure the trophy back in the 2022-23 season.

The prolific Norwegian striker is back in the hunt this term, but faces tough competition from Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many fixtures remaining, other players still have time to throw their hat into the fray.

Understanding the Golden Shoe?

The Golden Boot award was introduced in the 1967-68 by the French newspaper L'Equipe to honor the highest scorer in league matches from a European top-flight league.

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

Goals scored in the continent's top five leagues—the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, German 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 league, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in lower-ranked European leagues are worth one point.

While the honor has been shared on several instances in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 states that in the event of a tie, the trophy goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the deadlock persists, the subsequent tiebreaker is the total of assists, followed by the least penalties scored. Only after these criteria are used would the award be split.

Who are the Primary Contenders?

At present, a three-way tussle exists for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the trio of most recent winners split by just a solitary goal.

• Harry Kane (England captain) leads with 19 goals (38 points) from 15 Bundesliga fixtures.
• 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 place is Darko Lemajic of Latvia's side RFS, who has netted 28 goals (28 points) across their 36 league games in 2025.

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

The remainder of the current top ten is comprised of players from leagues that operate on a January-to-December schedule.

Reviewing Past Recipients

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

Portuguese legend Eusébio claimed the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for Benfica. He then secured the award for a second time in the 1972-73.

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has won the most Golden Shoes, collecting the honor on six separate times during his long spell at Barcelona.

Messi set the benchmark for most goals in a single season with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the first and only player to ever to win it in three successive seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese superstar 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 32 goals for Liverpool.

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

Erling Haaland claimed the award 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 identical goal tally for Bayern Munich the next year.

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

Now, the same three players are vying at the top of the leaderboard once more this campaign, with Kane currently leading the pack.