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

With a different winner in each of the last three campaigns, the prize remains highly contested. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based player to secure the trophy back in 2022-23.

The prodigious Norwegian goal-scorer is once again in the mix this campaign, but encounters formidable competition from Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures remaining, other players still have time to throw their hat into the contest.

Understanding the Golden Shoe?

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

Since the 1997-98, the prize has been overseen 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, Bundesliga, Serie A, and French Ligue 1—are valued at two points apiece.

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

While the award has been shared on multiple instances in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 dictates that in the case of a points tie, the trophy goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the tie persists, the subsequent deciding factor is the number of assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only if these criteria are exhausted would the prize be shared.

Identifying 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 (England 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 Darko Lemajic of Latvia's club 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 term.

The rest of the top 10 is comprised of players from leagues that function on a January-to-December schedule.

A Look at Previous Recipients

Throughout its nearly six-decade history, the Golden Shoe has been claimed by some of football's biggest names.

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

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

Messi established the benchmark 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 successive seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 with Man Utd before going on 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 scored thirty-two goals for Liverpool FC.

The prize has seen a different winner in every one of the last 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 earned his first Golden Shoe with the same total for Bayern Munich the following 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 three players are battling at the top of the standings again this season, with Kane currently leading the pack.