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

With a new winner in every one 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 the 2022-23 season.

The prolific Norwegian striker is back in the hunt this term, but encounters stiff competition from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many games left to play, other players still have time to throw their hat into the fray.

What is the European Golden Shoe Award?

The Golden Boot award was first launched in the 1967-68 by the France-based publication L'Equipe to recognize the leading scorer in domestic league matches from a European top-flight league.

Since the 1997-98 season, the prize has been administered by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted scoring system. Under this method, a player's tallies are multiplied by a designated multiplier based on the strength ranking of their league.

Goals scored in Europe's five major leagues—the Premier League, Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, and French Ligue 1—are valued at 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 are worth one point.

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

If the deadlock persists, the subsequent tiebreaker is the total of league assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only if these tiebreakers are exhausted would the prize be split.

Identifying the Main Contenders?

At present, a three-way battle exists for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the three previous winners separated 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 appearances.
• Kylian Mbappe sits just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga matches.

In fourth is RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvia's side RFS, who has netted 28 goals (28 points) across their 36 league games in 2025.

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

The remainder of the top 10 is comprised of players from leagues that operate on a calendar year schedule.

Reviewing Previous Winners

Throughout its nearly six-decade existence, the Golden Shoe has been claimed by some of football's biggest legends.

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

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has won the most Golden Shoes, collecting the award on six separate times during his 17-year tenure at Barcelona.

Messi established the record for highest tally in a campaign 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 claimed his first award in the 2007-08 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 every one of the last three seasons.

Erling Haaland won the award for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record-equaling thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his first Golden Shoe with the identical total for Bayern Munich the following season.

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 three players are competing at the summit of the standings again this campaign, with Kane presently leading the pack.