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The battle for the prestigious Golden Shoe is reaching a fever pitch as the current season passes its halfway mark.

With a new winner in every one of the last three campaigns, the prize remains up for grabs. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based player to win the award back in 2022-23.

The prodigious Norwegian goal-scorer is back in the running this term, but faces tough competition from Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many fixtures remaining, other players still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the contest.

What is the European Golden Shoe Award?

The European Golden Shoe was introduced in the 1967-68 season by the French publication L'Equipe to celebrate the leading goalscorer in domestic league matches from a European top division league.

Since the 1997-98 season, the award has been overseen by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted scoring system. Under this method, a player's goals are multiplied by a specific multiplier based on the UEFA coefficient of their domestic competition.

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

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

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

If the deadlock remains, the next deciding factor is the total of league assists, followed by the least goals from the penalty spot. Only if these tiebreakers are used would the award be split.

Who are the Primary Contenders?

As it stands, a three-way tussle is underway for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the three previous winners split by just a single goal.

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

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

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

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

Reviewing Past Winners

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

Portuguese legend Eusebio claimed the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for SL Benfica. He later 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 occasions during his 17-year spell at FC Barcelona.

Messi set the record for most goals 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 season 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 Liverpool's Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he scored 32 goals for Liverpool.

The award has seen a new winner in each of the past three seasons.

Erling Haaland won the award for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his first Golden Shoe with the same goal tally for Bayern Munich the next year.

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

Now, the same trio are battling at the top of the standings once more this season, with Kane currently out in front the pack.