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The battle for the European Golden Shoe is reaching a fever pitch as the current season nears its mid-season juncture.

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

The prolific Norwegian striker is once again in the running this campaign, but faces tough competition from Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of matches left to play, other players still have time to enter the contest.

Understanding the Golden Shoe?

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

Since the 1997-98 season, the prize has been administered by European Sports Media, which introduced a points-based points system. Under this format, a player's goals are weighted with a specific multiplier based on the UEFA coefficient of their domestic competition.

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

For competitions ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA rankings, such as the Portuguese league, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in lower-ranked European leagues carry one point.

While the honor has been jointly won on several occasions in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 states that in the event of a points tie, the trophy goes to the player with the least minutes played.

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

Who are the Main Contenders?

At present, a three-horse battle exists for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the three 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 outings.
• Kylian Mbappe sits one back on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

In fourth place is Darko Lemajic of Latvian club 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 top 10 is comprised of players from leagues that function on a calendar year schedule.

Reviewing Previous Recipients

Throughout its nearly six-decade existence, the Golden Shoe has been won by some of football's most iconic stars.

Portuguese icon Eusébio won the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring forty-two goals for SL Benfica. He then secured the award for a second time in the 1972-73 season.

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has won the record number of Golden Shoes, claiming the honor on six times during his 17-year tenure at Barcelona.

Messi set the record 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 megastar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 with Man Utd before going on to win it three more times with Real Madrid.

The inaugural player to win the award while at an club in England was Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he netted 32 goals for Liverpool.

The prize has seen a different winner in each of the past three seasons.

Erling Haaland scooped the prize for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane secured his first Golden Shoe with the identical total for Bayern Munich the following year.

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

Now, the same three players are battling at the top of the leaderboard once more this campaign, with Kane presently leading the way.