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The battle for the European Golden Shoe is reaching a fever pitch as the 2025-26 season nears its halfway mark.

With a different winner in each of the last three campaigns, the honor remains wide open. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based striker to claim the trophy back in the 2022-23 season.

The prolific Norwegian striker is back in the running this campaign, but faces stiff rivalry from Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With many matches remaining, other players still have an opportunity to enter the contest.

What is the European Golden Shoe Award?

The European Golden Shoe was inaugurated in the 1967-68 by the French publication L'Equipe to recognize the leading goalscorer in league matches from a European top-flight league.

Since the 1997-98 season, the award has been administered by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted points system. Under this format, a player's tallies are weighted with a specific multiplier based on the strength ranking of their domestic competition.

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

For leagues ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA rankings, such as the Portuguese Primeira Liga, goals are worth one and a half points. Goals in lower-ranked European leagues carry one point.

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

If the tie persists, the subsequent tiebreaker is the total of assists, followed by the least penalties scored. Only after these criteria are used would the award be split.

Identifying the Leading Challengers?

Currently, a three-horse tussle exists for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the trio of most recent winners split by just a single goal.

• Harry Kane (England 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 matches.

In fourth is Darko Lemajic of Latvian club RFS, who has netted 28 goals (28 points) across their 36 league games in 2025.

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

The rest of the top 10 is made up of players from leagues that operate on a January-to-December schedule.

A Look at Past Recipients

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

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

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has secured the most Golden Shoes, claiming the award on six separate occasions during his long spell at Barcelona.

Messi established the benchmark for highest tally in a campaign with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the first and only player to date to win it in three consecutive seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

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

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

The prize has seen a new 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 goal tally for Bayern Munich the following year.

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 vying at the summit of the standings once more this season, with Kane currently leading the pack.