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The competition for the European Golden Shoe is reaching a fever pitch as the 2025-26 season approaches its mid-season juncture.

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

The prodigious Norwegian striker is once again in the mix this term, but encounters tough rivalry from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With many fixtures remaining, other talents still have time to throw their hat into the fray.

What is the Golden Shoe?

The European Golden Shoe was first launched in the 1967-68 by the French publication L'Equipe to recognize the top scorer in domestic league matches from a European top division league.

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

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

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

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

If the deadlock remains, the subsequent tiebreaker is the number of assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only if these tiebreakers are exhausted would the prize be shared.

Who are the Primary Contenders?

At present, a three-way battle is underway for the 2025-26 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 games.
• Erling Haaland also has 19 goals (38 points) from 17 Premier League appearances.
• Kylian Mbappe sits one back on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

In fourth is Darko Lemajic of Latvian side RFS, who has scored 28 goals (28 points) across the club's 36 league games in 2025.

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

The remainder of the current top ten is comprised of players from leagues that function on a January-to-December schedule.

Reviewing Previous Recipients

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

Portuguese legend Eusébio claimed the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring forty-two goals for Benfica. He later won the award for a second time in the 1972-73 season.

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

Messi established 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 date to win it in three consecutive seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 season with Manchester United 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 Liverpool's Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he scored 32 goals for Liverpool.

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

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

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

Now, the very trio are competing at the summit of the standings again this season, with Kane presently out in front the pack.