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The contest for the European Golden Shoe is heating up as the 2025-26 season nears its midway point.

With a different winner in each of the previous three campaigns, the honor remains up for grabs. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based forward to secure the trophy back in 2022-23.

The prodigious Norwegian striker is back in the hunt this season, but faces tough competition from Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many matches left to play, other talents still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the fray.

Understanding the Golden Shoe?

The European Golden Shoe was introduced in the 1967-68 by the France-based newspaper L'Equipe to honor the top goalscorer in league matches from a European top division league.

Since the 1997-98 season, the prize has been overseen by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted scoring system. Under this method, a player's tallies are weighted with a designated multiplier based on the UEFA coefficient of their domestic competition.

Goals scored in the continent's five major leagues—the Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, and French Ligue 1—are valued at two points each.

For competitions ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA list, such as the Portuguese league, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in all other European leagues are worth one point.

While the award has been shared on several occasions 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 fewest minutes played.

If the deadlock persists, the subsequent tiebreaker is the number of assists, followed by the fewest goals from the penalty spot. Only after these criteria are exhausted would the prize be shared.

Who are the Leading Contenders?

At present, a three-horse tussle exists for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the trio of previous winners split by just a single goal.

• Harry Kane (England captain) leads with 19 goals (38 points) from 15 Bundesliga matches.
• Erling Haaland also has 19 goals (38 points) from 17 Premier League appearances.
• Kylian Mbappe sits just behind 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.

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

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

Reviewing Previous Winners

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

Portuguese icon Eusébio claimed the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for SL 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 honor on six separate occasions during his long spell at Barcelona.

Messi set the benchmark for most goals in a single season with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the first and only player to ever to win it in three straight seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 with Man Utd before going on to win it on three further occasions 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 FC.

The award has seen a different winner in each of the last three seasons.

Erling Haaland scooped the award 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 season.

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 summit of the leaderboard once more this season, with Kane currently out in front the way.