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

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

The prolific Norwegian striker is back in the running this season, but encounters stiff rivalry from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of games remaining, other players still have time to throw their hat into the contest.

Understanding the European Golden Shoe Award?

The European Golden Shoe was first launched in the 1967-68 season by the French publication L'Equipe to honor the top goalscorer in league matches from a European top-flight league.

Since the 1997-98, the prize has been overseen by European Sports Media, which introduced a weighted scoring system. Under this method, a player's tallies are weighted with a designated coefficient based on the strength ranking of their league.

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

For leagues ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA's rankings, 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 award has been shared on multiple occasions in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 season dictates that in the case of a points tie, the trophy goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the deadlock remains, the subsequent tiebreaker is the number of league assists, followed by the fewest goals from the penalty spot. Only after these tiebreakers are used would the award be shared.

Identifying the Main Contenders?

Currently, a three-horse tussle is underway for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the three most recent winners split by just a solitary 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 scored 28 goals (28 points) across the club's 36 league games in 2025.

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

The remainder of the current top ten is made up of players from leagues that function on a calendar year schedule.

A Look at Previous Winners

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

Portuguese legend Eusebio won the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for Benfica. He later secured the award for a second time in the 1972-73 season.

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has won the record number of Golden Shoes, claiming the honor on six separate occasions during his 17-year spell 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 consecutive seasons from 2016 to 2019.

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

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

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

Erling Haaland claimed the prize for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his maiden Golden Shoe with the identical goal tally for Bayern Munich the next year.

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

Now, the same trio are competing at the summit of the standings once more this season, with Kane presently out in front the way.