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The contest for the Golden Boot trophy is reaching a fever pitch as the 2025-26 season approaches its midway point.

With a new winner in each of the previous three campaigns, the honor remains wide open. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based forward to secure the trophy back in 2022-23.

The prolific Norwegian goal-scorer is back in the hunt this season, but faces formidable competition from Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many fixtures left to play, other talents still have an opportunity to enter the fray.

Understanding the European Golden Shoe Award?

The Golden Boot award was first launched in the 1967-68 by the France-based newspaper L'Equipe to celebrate the leading scorer in domestic league matches from a European top-flight league.

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

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

For competitions 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 instances in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 season dictates that in the event of a points tie, the trophy goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the tie remains, the subsequent deciding factor is the total of assists, followed by the least penalties scored. Only if these tiebreakers are used would the prize be split.

Who are the Main Contenders?

At present, a three-horse battle is underway for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the three 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 outings.
• Kylian Mbappe sits one back on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

In fourth place is RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvian side RFS, who has scored 28 goals (28 points) across the club's 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 current top ten is comprised of players from leagues that function on a calendar year schedule.

Reviewing Previous Recipients

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

Portuguese icon Eusébio won the first-ever 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 won the most Golden Shoes, collecting the honor on six occasions during his 17-year spell at FC Barcelona.

Messi established the record for highest tally 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 consecutive seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 season with Manchester United 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 scored 32 goals for Liverpool FC.

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

Erling Haaland claimed the prize for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record-equaling 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his first Golden Shoe with the same goal tally for Bayern Munich the following 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 very trio are vying at the top of the leaderboard once more this campaign, with Kane currently out in front the way.