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The competition for the European Golden Shoe is heating up as the current season approaches its mid-season juncture.

With a new winner in each of the past three campaigns, the prize remains wide open. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based striker to claim the trophy back in the 2022-23 season.

The prodigious Norwegian striker is once again in the running this campaign, but encounters stiff rivalry from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures left to play, other talents still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the fray.

Understanding the Golden Shoe?

The European Golden Shoe 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 division league.

Since the 1997-98 season, the award has been overseen by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted points 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 Europe's five major leagues—the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga, Serie A, and Ligue 1—are worth two points each.

For competitions ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA's rankings, such as the Portuguese league, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in lower-ranked European leagues carry one point.

While the honor has been shared on several instances in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 states that in the event of a points tie, the award goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the tie persists, the next tiebreaker is the number of assists, followed by the least penalties scored. Only if these criteria are exhausted would the award be split.

Who are the Main Contenders?

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

• Harry Kane (England captain) leads with 19 goals (38 points) from 15 Bundesliga fixtures.
• 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 is Darko Lemajic of Latvian club RFS, who has scored 28 goals (28 points) across the club's 36 league games in 2025.

Dutch side Feyenoord forward Ayase Ueda is joint-fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie matches this term.

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

Reviewing Previous Winners

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

Portuguese icon Eusebio claimed the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for 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 times during his long spell at FC Barcelona.

Messi established the benchmark 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 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 FC.

The award 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 thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his maiden Golden Shoe with the same total for Bayern Munich the following year.

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

Now, the very three players are battling at the summit of the standings once more this campaign, with Kane currently leading the way.