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The contest for the European Golden Shoe is reaching a fever pitch as the 2025-26 season passes its midway point.

With a new winner in each of the past three campaigns, the prize remains up for grabs. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based player to win the award back in the 2022-23 season.

The prolific Norwegian striker is once again in the mix this campaign, but encounters tough rivalry from Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many matches remaining, other talents still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the contest.

What is the Golden Shoe?

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

Since the 1997-98 season, the prize has been overseen by European Sports Media, which introduced a weighted scoring system. Under this format, a player's tallies are weighted with a specific multiplier based on the strength ranking of their domestic competition.

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

For leagues ranked from sixth to twenty-second in UEFA rankings, such as the Portuguese Primeira Liga, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in all other European leagues carry one point.

While the honor has been jointly won on several occasions in the past, a regulation update 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 persists, the subsequent deciding factor is the total of league assists, followed by the fewest goals from the penalty spot. Only if these criteria are exhausted would the prize be split.

Who are the Main Contenders?

Currently, a three-horse tussle exists for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the three most recent winners split by just a solitary goal.

• Harry Kane (England captain) leads with 19 goals (38 points) from 15 Bundesliga fixtures.
• 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 matches.

In fourth place is RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvian side RFS, who has scored 28 goals (28 points) across the club's 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 season.

The rest of the current top ten is made up of players from leagues that operate on a January-to-December schedule.

A Look at Past Recipients

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

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

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

Messi established the record for highest tally in a single season with fifty in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the first and only player to ever to win it in three successive seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 season with Man Utd before proceeding to win it three more times 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 32 goals for Liverpool FC.

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

Erling Haaland won the prize for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record-equaling 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane secured his first Golden Shoe with the identical total for Bayern Munich the following season.

Kylian Mbappe is the reigning winner of the award after scoring 31 goals (62 points) for Real Madrid in 2024-25.

Now, the same trio are vying at the summit of the standings again this season, with Kane currently out in front the pack.