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The contest for the Golden Boot trophy is intensifying as the current season nears its mid-season juncture.

With a different winner in each of the previous three campaigns, the prize remains highly contested. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based forward to secure the award back in the 2022-23 season.

The prolific Norwegian striker is back in the hunt this term, but encounters stiff rivalry from Bayern Munich forward 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.

Understanding the Golden Shoe?

The European Golden Shoe was first launched in the 1967-68 by the French publication L'Equipe to honor the highest goalscorer in domestic league matches from a European top division league.

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

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

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

While the honor has been jointly won on several occasions in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 season dictates that in the event of a tie, the award goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the deadlock persists, the next tiebreaker is the total of assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only after these tiebreakers are used would the award be shared.

Who are the Main Contenders?

Currently, a three-way tussle exists for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the trio of most recent winners split by just a single goal.

• Harry Kane (English captain) leads with 19 goals (38 points) from 15 Bundesliga games.
• 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 side RFS, who has scored 28 goals (28 points) across their 36 league games in 2025.

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

The remainder of the current top ten is made up of players from leagues that function on a calendar year schedule.

Reviewing Past Recipients

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

Portuguese legend Eusebio claimed the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring forty-two goals for 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 times during his long tenure at Barcelona.

Messi set the record for highest tally 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 successive seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 season with Man Utd before going on to win it on three further occasions with Real Madrid.

The first player to win the award while at an club in England was Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he scored 32 goals for Liverpool.

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

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

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

Now, the same three players are vying at the top of the leaderboard once more this season, with Kane currently out in front the way.