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

With a new winner in each of the last three campaigns, the prize remains wide open. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based player to claim the award back in the 2022-23 season.

The prolific Norwegian goal-scorer is back in the running this campaign, but encounters tough rivalry from Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of games remaining, other talents still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the contest.

What is the Golden Shoe?

The Golden Boot award was first launched in the 1967-68 by the France-based newspaper L'Equipe to honor the highest scorer in league matches from a European top-flight league.

Since the 1997-98 season, the award has been overseen by European Sports Media, which introduced a points-based scoring system. Under this format, a player's tallies are multiplied by a specific multiplier based on the UEFA coefficient of their league.

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

For competitions ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA list, 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 shared on several instances in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 dictates that in the case of a points tie, the award goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

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

Identifying the Primary Contenders?

As it stands, a three-way battle is underway for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the trio of most recent winners separated by just a solitary 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 outings.
• 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 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 fixtures this term.

The rest of the current top ten is comprised 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 biggest stars.

Portuguese legend Eusebio claimed the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for Benfica. He then won the award for a second time in the 1972-73 season.

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has secured the most Golden Shoes, collecting the honor on six separate occasions during his long spell at Barcelona.

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

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

The inaugural player to win the award while at an English club was Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he netted thirty-two goals for Liverpool.

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

Erling Haaland won the prize 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 same total for Bayern Munich the following season.

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

Now, the very trio are competing at the top of the leaderboard once more this campaign, with Kane currently leading the pack.