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The competition for the European Golden Shoe is intensifying as the 2025-26 season approaches its mid-season juncture.

With a different winner in every one of the past three campaigns, the award remains up for grabs. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based striker to secure the award back in the 2022-23 season.

The prodigious Norwegian striker is back in the running this season, but encounters tough rivalry from Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With many games remaining, other players still have time to enter the contest.

What is the Golden Shoe?

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

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

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

For leagues ranked from sixth to twenty-second in UEFA list, 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 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 tie remains, the subsequent tiebreaker is the total of assists, followed by the fewest goals from the penalty spot. Only after these criteria are exhausted would the prize be split.

Identifying the Primary Contenders?

Currently, a three-horse race is underway for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the trio of most recent winners separated by just a solitary 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 games.

In fourth is RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvian club 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 season.

The remainder of the top 10 is made up of players from leagues that operate on a January-to-December schedule.

A Look at Previous Recipients

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

Portuguese legend Eusebio won the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for Benfica. He then won 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 award on six occasions during his long spell at Barcelona.

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

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 season with Manchester United before proceeding to win it three more times with Real Madrid.

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

The prize has seen a new winner in every one of the last three seasons.

Erling Haaland claimed the award for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his first Golden Shoe with the same goal tally for Bayern Munich the next 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 trio are competing at the top of the leaderboard once more this season, with Kane presently leading the pack.