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The contest for the prestigious Golden Shoe is heating up as the current season approaches its halfway mark.

With a different winner in each of the previous three campaigns, the honor remains up for grabs. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based forward to secure the award back in 2022-23.

The prolific Norwegian striker is once again in the mix this term, but faces formidable competition from Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With many matches remaining, other talents still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the contest.

Understanding the European Golden Shoe Award?

The Golden Boot award was introduced in the 1967-68 by the French publication L'Equipe to honor the highest scorer in league matches from a European top-flight league.

Since the 1997-98, the prize has been administered by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted points system. Under this method, a player's tallies are multiplied by a designated coefficient based on the UEFA coefficient of their league.

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

For competitions ranked from sixth to twenty-second in UEFA list, such as the Portuguese Primeira Liga, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in lower-ranked European leagues carry one point.

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

If the tie remains, the subsequent deciding factor is the total of league assists, followed by the least goals from the penalty spot. Only if these tiebreakers are exhausted would the prize be shared.

Identifying the Leading Contenders?

At present, a three-way tussle is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the three previous winners separated by just a single goal.

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

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

Feyenoord striker Ayase Ueda is tied for 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 January-to-December schedule.

A Look at Past Winners

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

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

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

Messi set the benchmark 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 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 season with Manchester United before going on to win it three more times with Real Madrid.

The first 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 new winner in each of the past three seasons.

Erling Haaland won the award for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane secured his first Golden Shoe with the same total for Bayern Munich the next season.

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

Now, the same trio are battling at the top of the leaderboard again this season, with Kane currently leading the pack.