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

With a different winner in each of the last three campaigns, the prize remains wide open. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based forward to win the award back in 2022-23.

The prolific Norwegian goal-scorer is once again in the running this campaign, but encounters stiff competition from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures remaining, other talents still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the contest.

What is the Golden Shoe?

The European Golden Shoe was first launched in the 1967-68 by the French newspaper L'Equipe to recognize the top scorer in domestic league matches from a European top-flight league.

Since the 1997-98, the prize has been overseen by European Sports Media, which introduced a weighted points system. Under this method, a player's goals are multiplied by 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, Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, and Ligue 1—are valued at two points apiece.

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

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

If the deadlock persists, the next deciding factor is the total of assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only if these criteria are used would the award be split.

Who are the Leading Contenders?

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

In fourth place is Darko Lemajic of Latvian club RFS, who has netted 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 made up of players from leagues that function on a January-to-December schedule.

A Look at Previous Winners

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

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

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has secured the record number of Golden Shoes, claiming the honor on six occasions during his long tenure at FC Barcelona.

Messi established the record for most goals in a campaign with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to ever to win it in three consecutive seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese megastar 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 English club was Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he netted 32 goals for Liverpool FC.

The award has seen a different winner in every one of the last three seasons.

Erling Haaland scooped the award for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record-equaling thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his first Golden Shoe with the identical goal tally for Bayern Munich the following season.

Kylian Mbappe is the current 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 presently leading the pack.