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The contest for the prestigious Golden Shoe is intensifying as the current season passes its mid-season juncture.

With a new winner in every one of the previous three campaigns, the honor remains highly contested. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based player to secure the trophy back in the 2022-23 season.

The prolific Norwegian striker is once again in the mix this campaign, but faces tough rivalry from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many matches remaining, other talents still have time to throw their hat into the fray.

What is the European Golden Shoe Award?

The Golden Boot award was inaugurated in the 1967-68 season by the French publication L'Equipe to celebrate the top goalscorer in domestic league matches from a European top-flight league.

Since the 1997-98 season, the award has been administered by European Sports Media, which implemented a points-based points system. Under this format, a player's goals are weighted with a specific multiplier based on the strength ranking of their league.

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

For leagues ranked from sixth to twenty-second in UEFA's list, 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 occasions in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 states that in the case of a tie, the award goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the tie persists, the next deciding factor is the number of league assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only if these tiebreakers are exhausted would the award be shared.

Who are the Leading Challengers?

Currently, a three-way tussle is underway for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the trio of previous winners separated by just a solitary 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 just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga matches.

In fourth place is Darko Lemajic of Latvia's 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 term.

The rest of the top 10 is comprised of players from leagues that function on a January-to-December schedule.

Reviewing Past Winners

Throughout its nearly six-decade history, the Golden Shoe has been awarded to some of football's biggest stars.

Portuguese icon Eusebio claimed 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.

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has secured the record number of Golden Shoes, claiming the honor on six separate times during his long tenure at Barcelona.

Messi established the record for highest tally in a campaign with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the first and only player to date to win it in three straight seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

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

The inaugural player to win the award while at an English club was Liverpool's Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he netted thirty-two goals for Liverpool.

The award has seen a new 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 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 same trio are competing at the summit of the leaderboard again this campaign, with Kane currently leading the pack.