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The contest for the prestigious Golden Shoe is reaching a fever pitch as the 2025-26 season passes its mid-season juncture.

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

The prodigious Norwegian striker is back in the mix this season, but encounters formidable rivalry from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With many fixtures remaining, other talents still have time to enter the contest.

What is the European Golden Shoe Award?

The Golden Boot award was first launched in the 1967-68 by the French newspaper L'Equipe to honor the leading scorer in league matches from a European top division league.

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

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

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

While the honor has been jointly won on several instances in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 season dictates that in the case of a points tie, the award goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the deadlock remains, the next deciding factor is the total of league assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only after these criteria are exhausted would the award be shared.

Who are the Primary Contenders?

Currently, a three-horse battle exists for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the trio of previous winners split by just a single goal.

• Harry Kane (English captain) leads with 19 goals (38 points) from 15 Bundesliga matches.
• Erling Haaland also has 19 goals (38 points) from 17 Premier League outings.
• Kylian Mbappe sits just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga matches.

In fourth place is RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvia's side RFS, who has scored 28 goals (28 points) across the club's 36 league games in 2025.

Dutch side Feyenoord forward Ayase Ueda is tied for fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie fixtures this term.

The rest of the current top ten is comprised of players from leagues that operate on a January-to-December schedule.

A Look at Past Winners

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

Portuguese icon Eusebio won the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for SL Benfica. He then secured the award for a second time in the 1972-73.

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has secured the most Golden Shoes, collecting the award on six occasions during his 17-year spell at Barcelona.

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

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 with Manchester United before proceeding to win it on three further occasions with Real Madrid.

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

The award has seen a new winner in each of the past three seasons.

Erling Haaland scooped the award 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 goal tally for Bayern Munich the following season.

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

Now, the same trio are battling at the summit of the leaderboard once more this campaign, with Kane presently out in front the way.