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The battle for the Golden Boot trophy is heating up as the current season approaches its mid-season juncture.

With a new winner in each of the last three campaigns, the honor remains up for grabs. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based player to win the trophy back in the 2022-23 season.

The prodigious Norwegian striker is once again in the hunt this term, but faces stiff rivalry from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of matches remaining, other talents still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the fray.

Understanding the European Golden Shoe Award?

The Golden Boot award was inaugurated in the 1967-68 season by the French newspaper L'Equipe to recognize the leading scorer in domestic league matches from a European top-flight league.

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

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

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

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

If the tie persists, the subsequent tiebreaker is the total of league assists, followed by the fewest goals from the penalty spot. Only after these criteria are used would the prize be split.

Who are the Primary Contenders?

At present, a three-horse tussle exists for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the three most recent winners split by just a solitary goal.

• Harry Kane (English 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 Latvia's side 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 made up of players from leagues that operate on a calendar year schedule.

Reviewing Past Winners

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

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

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has secured the most Golden Shoes, claiming the award on six separate times during his 17-year tenure at FC Barcelona.

Messi established the record for most goals in a single season with fifty in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the first and only player to date to win it in three successive seasons from 2016 to 2019.

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

The first player to win the award while at an English club was Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he scored 32 goals for Liverpool FC.

The award has seen a new 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-equaling thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his maiden Golden Shoe with the identical goal tally for Bayern Munich the next year.

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

Now, the very trio are battling at the top of the leaderboard again this campaign, with Kane currently leading the way.