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The contest for the Golden Boot trophy is intensifying as the 2025-26 season nears its midway point.

With a different winner in each of the past three campaigns, the prize remains highly contested. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based player to secure the award back in 2022-23.

The prolific Norwegian striker is back in the mix this season, but faces tough rivalry from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures left to play, other players still have time to enter the contest.

What is the European Golden Shoe Award?

The European Golden Shoe was first launched in the 1967-68 by the French publication L'Equipe to recognize the top goalscorer in domestic league matches from a European top-flight league.

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

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

For competitions ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA's rankings, such as the Portuguese league, goals are worth one and a half points. Goals in all other European leagues are worth one point.

While the award has been jointly won on several instances in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 season states that in the case of a points tie, the award goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the deadlock persists, the subsequent deciding factor is the number of league assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only after these tiebreakers are exhausted would the award be split.

Who are the Primary Challengers?

Currently, a three-way tussle exists for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the trio of previous winners separated by just a single goal.

• Harry Kane (English 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 one back on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga matches.

In fourth is Darko Lemajic of Latvia's side 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 season.

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

Reviewing Previous Recipients

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

Portuguese icon 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 season.

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has won the most Golden Shoes, claiming the award on six occasions during his long spell at Barcelona.

Messi set the record for most goals in a campaign with fifty in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to date to win it in three straight seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 with Manchester United before going on to win it on three further occasions 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 thirty-two goals for Liverpool.

The award has seen a different winner in every one of the past three seasons.

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

Kylian Mbappe is the current holder of the award after scoring 31 goals (62 points) for Real Madrid in 2024-25.

Now, the same trio are competing at the summit of the standings once more this campaign, with Kane presently out in front the way.