Who's Out in Front in the Contest for the Golden Boot Award?

The contest for the Golden Boot trophy is heating up as the 2025-26 season approaches its mid-season juncture.

With a new winner in every one of the last three campaigns, the honor remains wide open. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based forward to claim the trophy back in the 2022-23 season.

The prodigious Norwegian striker is once again in the running this term, but faces stiff competition from Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many matches remaining, other players still have time to throw their hat into the contest.

Understanding the Golden Shoe?

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

Since the 1997-98 season, the prize has been administered by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted points system. Under this format, a player's tallies are multiplied by a designated multiplier based on the UEFA coefficient 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 apiece.

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

While the award has been jointly won on multiple occasions in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 states that in the case of a points tie, the trophy goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the tie remains, the subsequent deciding factor is the number of assists, followed by the least goals from the penalty spot. Only if these tiebreakers are used would the award be shared.

Identifying the Leading Challengers?

As it stands, a three-horse race is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the trio of previous winners separated 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 outings.
• Kylian Mbappe sits just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

In fourth is Darko Lemajic of Latvian side 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 season.

The remainder of the top 10 is comprised of players from leagues that operate on a calendar year schedule.

A Look at Previous Recipients

Throughout its 59-year history, the Golden Shoe has been claimed by some of football's biggest legends.

Portuguese legend Eusébio claimed the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for Benfica. He then won the award for a second time in the 1972-73.

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has secured the record number of Golden Shoes, collecting the award on six separate occasions during his long spell at FC Barcelona.

Messi set the record for most goals in a campaign with fifty in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to ever to win it in three straight seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 with Manchester United before going on to win it three more times with Real Madrid.

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

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

Erling Haaland won the award for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane secured his first Golden Shoe with the same goal tally for Bayern Munich the following 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 three players are vying at the top of the leaderboard again this campaign, with Kane currently leading the pack.