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

With a different winner in each of the past three campaigns, the honor remains highly contested. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based striker to secure the trophy back in the 2022-23 season.

The prolific Norwegian goal-scorer is back in the mix this campaign, but encounters stiff competition from German Bundesliga marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures left to play, other talents still have time to throw their hat into the fray.

What is the European Golden Shoe Award?

The European Golden Shoe was inaugurated in the 1967-68 by the France-based publication L'Equipe to celebrate the highest scorer in domestic league matches from a European top division league.

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

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

For leagues ranked from sixth to twenty-second in UEFA's 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 occasions in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 season states that in the case of a tie, the award goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the deadlock remains, the subsequent deciding factor is the number of assists, followed by the fewest goals from the penalty spot. Only after these criteria are used would the award be shared.

Identifying the Main Challengers?

As it stands, a three-horse tussle is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the three most recent winners separated by just a single 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 appearances.
• Kylian Mbappe sits just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga matches.

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

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 made up of players from leagues that function on a January-to-December schedule.

Reviewing Past Winners

Throughout its nearly six-decade history, the Golden Shoe has been awarded to some of football's most iconic legends.

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

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has secured the record number of Golden Shoes, collecting the honor on six separate occasions during his 17-year spell at FC Barcelona.

Messi established the benchmark for most goals in a single season with 50 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 first won award in the 2007-08 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 Liverpool's 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 won the award for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record-equaling 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane secured his first Golden Shoe with the identical goal tally for Bayern Munich the next year.

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 three players are vying at the summit of the standings again this season, with Kane presently out in front the way.