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The contest for the prestigious Golden Shoe is intensifying as the current season approaches its mid-season juncture.

With a new winner in each of the previous three campaigns, the prize 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 prodigious Norwegian goal-scorer is once again in the hunt this season, but faces tough rivalry from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of matches left to play, other players still have time to throw their hat into the contest.

What is the Golden Shoe?

The European Golden Shoe was inaugurated in the 1967-68 by the France-based publication L'Equipe to recognize the highest scorer in domestic league matches from a European top division league.

Since the 1997-98, the award has been overseen by European Sports Media, which introduced a weighted scoring system. Under this method, a player's goals are multiplied by a specific coefficient based on the UEFA coefficient of their league.

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

For leagues ranked from sixth to twenty-second in UEFA's 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 multiple occasions in the past, a regulation update 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 tie persists, the subsequent tiebreaker is the total of assists, followed by the fewest goals from the penalty spot. Only if these criteria are exhausted would the award be split.

Identifying the Primary Challengers?

As it stands, a three-horse race is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the trio of most recent winners separated by just a single goal.

• Harry Kane (English captain) leads with 19 goals (38 points) from 15 Bundesliga fixtures.
• Erling Haaland also has 19 goals (38 points) from 17 Premier League outings.
• Kylian Mbappe sits just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

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

Dutch side Feyenoord striker Ayase Ueda is tied for fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie fixtures 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 Winners

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

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

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has won the record number of Golden Shoes, collecting the honor on six occasions during his long tenure at Barcelona.

Messi established the benchmark for most goals in a campaign with fifty in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to date to win it in three straight seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 with Man Utd before proceeding to win it on three further occasions with Real Madrid.

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

The award 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 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane secured his first Golden Shoe with the same total 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 competing at the top of the leaderboard again this campaign, with Kane presently out in front the way.