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The contest for the European Golden Shoe is reaching a fever pitch as the 2025-26 season nears its midway point.

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

The prolific Norwegian goal-scorer is once again in the hunt this season, but encounters tough competition from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many games remaining, other players still have time to enter the fray.

Understanding the European Golden Shoe Award?

The European Golden Shoe was inaugurated in the 1967-68 by the French publication L'Equipe to recognize the top scorer in domestic league matches from a European top division league.

Since the 1997-98, the award has been overseen by European Sports Media, which introduced a points-based points system. Under this method, a player's tallies are weighted with a designated multiplier based on the strength ranking of their domestic competition.

Goals scored in Europe's five major leagues—the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, and Ligue 1—are valued at two points each.

For leagues 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 are worth one point.

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

If the tie persists, the next tiebreaker is the total of league assists, followed by the least penalties scored. Only after these tiebreakers are used would the prize be split.

Who are the Leading Challengers?

At present, a three-horse battle is underway for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the trio of most recent winners separated 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 is RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvian club RFS, who has netted 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 fixtures this season.

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 59-year history, the Golden Shoe has been awarded to some of football's biggest stars.

Portuguese legend Eusebio won 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 legend Lionel Messi has secured the record number of Golden Shoes, collecting the award on six times during his long tenure at Barcelona.

Messi set the record for highest tally 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 to 2019.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 with Man Utd before going on to win it on three further occasions with Real Madrid.

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

The award 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 earned his maiden Golden Shoe with the same total for Bayern Munich the next season.

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

Now, the very three players are vying at the summit of the leaderboard again this campaign, with Kane presently out in front the pack.