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The battle for the European Golden Shoe is intensifying as the 2025-26 season nears its halfway mark.

With a different winner in every one of the last three campaigns, the prize remains up for grabs. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based forward to secure the trophy back in the 2022-23 season.

The prolific Norwegian goal-scorer is back in the running this season, but faces tough competition from Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of matches left to play, other players still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the fray.

Understanding the European Golden Shoe Award?

The European Golden Shoe was first launched in the 1967-68 season by the French newspaper L'Equipe to recognize the leading goalscorer in league matches from a European top division league.

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

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

For competitions ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA list, such as the Portuguese Primeira Liga, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in all other European leagues carry one point.

While the honor has been shared on multiple instances in the past, a rule change 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 tie remains, the subsequent tiebreaker is the number of assists, followed by the least goals from the penalty spot. Only if these criteria are used would the award be shared.

Who are the Primary Contenders?

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

• Harry Kane (England captain) leads with 19 goals (38 points) from 15 Bundesliga matches.
• 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 place is RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvian club RFS, who has scored 28 goals (28 points) across the club's 36 league games in 2025.

Dutch side Feyenoord striker Ayase Ueda is joint-fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie fixtures this term.

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

A Look at Past Recipients

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

Portuguese icon Eusebio claimed the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring forty-two goals for SL Benfica. He later secured the award for a second time in the 1972-73 season.

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has secured the most Golden Shoes, claiming the honor on six separate times during his 17-year tenure at Barcelona.

Messi established the benchmark for highest tally in a campaign with fifty in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to date to win it in three straight seasons from 2016 to 2019.

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

The inaugural player to win the award while at an English club was Liverpool's Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he netted 32 goals for Liverpool.

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

Erling Haaland claimed the prize for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record-equaling thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane secured his first 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 trio are battling at the summit of the standings again this campaign, with Kane currently leading the pack.