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The contest for the prestigious Golden Shoe is intensifying as the 2025-26 season approaches its halfway mark.

With a new winner in each of the last three campaigns, the honor remains up for grabs. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based forward to claim the award back in the 2022-23 season.

The prodigious Norwegian goal-scorer is once again in the hunt this term, but encounters tough rivalry from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many games remaining, other talents still have an opportunity to enter the contest.

What is the Golden Shoe?

The Golden Boot award was first launched in the 1967-68 by the French publication L'Equipe to recognize the top 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 format, a player's goals are multiplied by a specific multiplier based on the UEFA coefficient of their domestic competition.

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

For competitions ranked from sixth to twenty-second in UEFA's rankings, such as the Portuguese league, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in lower-ranked European leagues are worth one point.

While the award has been jointly won 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 deadlock remains, the subsequent tiebreaker is the number of assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only after these criteria are used would the prize be split.

Who are the Primary Challengers?

At present, a three-way tussle is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the three previous winners separated by just a solitary 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 one back on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

In fourth 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.

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

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

A Look at Past Recipients

Throughout its 59-year existence, the Golden Shoe has been awarded to some of football's most iconic names.

Portuguese icon Eusébio claimed the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for SL Benfica. He later won the award for a second time in the 1972-73 season.

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

Messi established 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 consecutive seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 season with Manchester United before going on to win it on three further occasions 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 FC.

The prize has seen a different winner in each of the past three seasons.

Erling Haaland claimed the award for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record 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 reigning winner of the award after scoring 31 goals (62 points) for Real Madrid in 2024-25.

Now, the very trio are battling at the top of the leaderboard once more this campaign, with Kane presently out in front the way.