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The contest for the Golden Boot trophy is reaching a fever pitch as the 2025-26 season passes its mid-season juncture.

With a new winner in every one of the past three campaigns, the prize remains highly contested. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based striker to claim the trophy back in 2022-23.

The prodigious Norwegian striker is back in the mix this term, but faces tough competition from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With many games left to play, other players still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the fray.

What is the Golden Shoe?

The European Golden Shoe was inaugurated in the 1967-68 by the French publication L'Equipe to recognize 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 introduced a points-based scoring system. Under this format, a player's tallies are weighted with a designated multiplier based on the UEFA coefficient of their league.

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

For leagues ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA's rankings, such as the Portuguese league, goals are worth one and a half points. Goals in all other European leagues carry one point.

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

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

Who are the Main Challengers?

At present, a three-horse battle is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the three most recent winners separated by just a solitary goal.

• Harry Kane (English 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 one back on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

In fourth is RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvia's side RFS, who has netted 28 goals (28 points) across their 36 league games in 2025.

Feyenoord forward Ayase Ueda is tied for fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie fixtures this season.

The rest of the current top ten is comprised of players from leagues that operate on a calendar year 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 names.

Portuguese icon Eusebio won the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for Benfica. He then secured the award for a second time in the 1972-73.

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has won the most Golden Shoes, claiming the honor on six separate occasions during his long spell at Barcelona.

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

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 season with Manchester United before proceeding to win it three more times with Real Madrid.

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

The award 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 thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his first Golden Shoe with the same total for Bayern Munich the next 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 same trio are battling at the summit of the standings again this campaign, with Kane presently out in front the way.