Who is Out in Front in the Race for the European Golden Shoe?

The contest for the prestigious Golden Shoe is heating up as the current season passes its mid-season juncture.

With a new winner in every one of the previous three campaigns, the prize remains up for grabs. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based forward to secure the trophy back in the 2022-23 season.

The prodigious Norwegian goal-scorer is back in the running this season, but faces stiff rivalry from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With many matches remaining, other talents still have time to throw their hat into the fray.

Understanding the Golden Shoe?

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

Since the 1997-98, the prize has been overseen by European Sports Media, which introduced a points-based points system. Under this format, a player's tallies are weighted with a designated coefficient based on the UEFA coefficient of their league.

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

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

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

If the tie remains, the next tiebreaker is the number of assists, followed by the least goals from the penalty spot. Only after these criteria are used would the award be shared.

Identifying the Primary Challengers?

Currently, a three-way race exists for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the three 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 one back on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga matches.

In fourth is Darko Lemajic of Latvian club RFS, who has netted 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 matches this season.

The rest of the current top ten is comprised of players from leagues that function on a calendar year schedule.

Reviewing Previous Winners

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

Portuguese legend Eusebio claimed the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring forty-two goals for SL Benfica. He later won the award for a second time in the 1972-73.

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has won the most Golden Shoes, claiming the honor on six separate occasions during his 17-year tenure at Barcelona.

Messi established the record for highest tally in a single season with fifty in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to date to win it in three successive seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

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

The inaugural 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 prize has seen a different winner in each of the past three seasons.

Erling Haaland won the prize 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 same total for Bayern Munich the next year.

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

Now, the very trio are vying at the top of the leaderboard again this campaign, with Kane currently out in front the way.