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The contest for the Golden Boot trophy is reaching a fever pitch as the current season approaches its mid-season juncture.

With a different winner in each of the last three campaigns, the honor remains highly contested. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based forward to claim the award back in 2022-23.

The prodigious Norwegian striker is back in the hunt this season, but faces stiff rivalry from Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures remaining, other talents still have an opportunity to enter the fray.

What is the European Golden Shoe Award?

The Golden Boot award was first launched in the 1967-68 by the French newspaper L'Equipe to honor the leading goalscorer in league matches from a European top division league.

Since the 1997-98, the prize has been overseen by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted points system. Under this format, a player's goals are multiplied by a specific multiplier based on the UEFA coefficient of their league.

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

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

While the honor has been jointly won on several instances in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 states that in the event of a tie, the trophy goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the tie remains, the next deciding factor is the total of league assists, followed by the least penalties scored. Only if these criteria are used would the prize be split.

Identifying the Main Contenders?

At present, a three-horse race exists for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the trio of most recent winners split 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 outings.
• Kylian Mbappe sits just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

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

Feyenoord striker Ayase Ueda is joint-fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie fixtures this term.

The rest of the top 10 is made up 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 Eusébio won the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring forty-two 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 record number of Golden Shoes, claiming the award on six occasions during his long spell at Barcelona.

Messi set the benchmark for highest tally in a single season with fifty in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the first and 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 season with Man Utd before going on to win it on three further occasions with Real Madrid.

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

The prize has seen a new winner in every one of the last three seasons.

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

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

Now, the same three players are battling at the summit of the standings again this season, with Kane currently leading the way.