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The battle for the prestigious Golden Shoe is reaching a fever pitch as the 2025-26 season passes its mid-season juncture.

With a different winner in every one of the previous three campaigns, the honor remains wide open. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based player to win the trophy back in the 2022-23 season.

The prolific Norwegian goal-scorer is back in the running this campaign, but encounters formidable competition from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures remaining, other talents still have time to throw their hat into the contest.

Understanding the Golden Shoe?

The Golden Boot award was introduced in the 1967-68 by the France-based newspaper L'Equipe to recognize the leading scorer in league matches from a European top division league.

Since the 1997-98 season, the prize has been overseen by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted scoring system. Under this method, a player's tallies are multiplied by a designated multiplier based on the strength ranking of their league.

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

For competitions ranked from sixth to twenty-second in UEFA list, such as the Portuguese league, goals are worth one and a half points. Goals in all other European leagues are worth one point.

While the honor has been jointly won on multiple instances in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 season dictates that in the case of a tie, the trophy goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the tie remains, the next deciding factor is the number of assists, followed by the fewest goals from the penalty spot. Only if these tiebreakers are exhausted would the award be split.

Identifying the Main Contenders?

Currently, a three-horse tussle is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the three previous 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 games.

In fourth place is 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 matches this term.

The remainder of the top 10 is made up of players from leagues that operate on a calendar year schedule.

Reviewing Past Recipients

Throughout its nearly six-decade history, the Golden Shoe has been awarded to some of football's biggest legends.

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

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has secured the record number of Golden Shoes, claiming the honor on six separate occasions during his 17-year spell at Barcelona.

Messi established the record for most goals in a single season with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to date to win it in three successive seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese superstar 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 first player to win the award while at an club in England was Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he netted thirty-two goals for Liverpool FC.

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-equaling 36 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 31 goals (62 points) for Real Madrid in 2024-25.

Now, the very trio are battling at the summit of the standings again this season, with Kane presently out in front the pack.