Who is Out in Front in the Race for the Golden Boot Award?
The contest for the Golden Boot trophy is heating up as the 2025-26 season passes its midway point.
With a different winner in each of the last three campaigns, the honor remains wide open. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based striker to win the award back in the 2022-23 season.
The prolific Norwegian goal-scorer is back in the mix this campaign, but faces formidable rivalry from Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of matches remaining, other talents still have time to throw their hat into the fray.
Understanding the Golden Shoe?
The European Golden Shoe was inaugurated in the 1967-68 by the France-based publication L'Equipe to celebrate the top scorer in league matches from a European top-flight league.
Since the 1997-98 season, the prize has been overseen by European Sports Media, which implemented a points-based scoring system. Under this format, a player's goals are weighted with a specific coefficient based on the strength ranking of their domestic competition.
Goals scored in Europe's top five leagues—the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, and Ligue 1—are valued at two points apiece.
For competitions ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA's rankings, such as the Portuguese Primeira Liga, goals are worth one and a half points. Goals in lower-ranked European leagues are worth one point.
While the honor has been shared on several occasions in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 dictates that in the event of a tie, the trophy goes to the player with the least minutes played.
If the deadlock persists, the subsequent deciding factor is the number of league assists, followed by the least penalties scored. Only after these criteria are used would the prize be shared.
Who are the Main Challengers?
Currently, a three-way race is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the trio of previous winners split 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 matches.
In fourth is Darko Lemajic of Latvia's club RFS, who has netted 28 goals (28 points) across their 36 league games in 2025.
Dutch side Feyenoord striker Ayase Ueda is tied for 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 operate on a January-to-December schedule.
Reviewing Previous Winners
Throughout its 59-year existence, the Golden Shoe has been claimed by some of football's biggest names.
Portuguese legend 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.
Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has won the most Golden Shoes, collecting the award on six times during his long spell at Barcelona.
Messi established the benchmark for most goals in a single season 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 2016-17 to 2018-19.
Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 with Man Utd before going on 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 netted 32 goals for Liverpool.
The award has seen a different winner in each of the last three seasons.
Erling Haaland claimed the prize for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record-equaling 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane secured his maiden Golden Shoe with the same total for Bayern Munich the next 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 trio are vying at the top of the leaderboard again this season, with Kane presently out in front the way.
