Who is Leading in the Race for the Golden Shoe?
The battle for the prestigious Golden Shoe is heating up as the current season approaches its halfway mark.
With a new winner in every one of the last three campaigns, the prize remains highly contested. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based player to claim the award back in 2022-23.
The prolific Norwegian goal-scorer is once again in the running this term, but faces stiff rivalry from German Bundesliga marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures remaining, other talents still have time to enter the fray.
Understanding the European Golden Shoe Award?
The European Golden Shoe was inaugurated in the 1967-68 by the France-based publication L'Equipe to honor the highest goalscorer in domestic league matches from a European top division league.
Since the 1997-98, the award has been overseen by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted points system. Under this format, a player's goals are weighted with a specific coefficient based on the strength ranking of their domestic competition.
Goals scored in Europe's top five leagues—the English Premier League, La Liga, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, and 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 honor has been jointly won on several occasions in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 season states that in the case of a points tie, the award goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.
If the tie remains, the subsequent tiebreaker is the total of assists, followed by the least penalties scored. Only after these tiebreakers are used would the award be shared.
Who are the Main Challengers?
At present, a three-horse race is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the trio of previous winners split by just a solitary goal.
- Harry Kane (England captain) leads with 19 goals (38 points) from 15 Bundesliga games.
- 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 place is RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvia's side RFS, who has netted 28 goals (28 points) across the club's 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 rest of the top 10 is made up 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 awarded to some of football's most iconic legends.
Portuguese legend Eusebio won the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring forty-two goals for Benfica. He later 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 honor on six occasions during his 17-year spell at Barcelona.
Messi established the benchmark for most goals in a campaign with fifty in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the first and only player to date to win it in three consecutive seasons from 2016 to 2019.
Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 season with Man Utd before going on to win it on three further occasions 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 thirty-two goals for Liverpool FC.
The award has seen a new winner in every one of the last three seasons.
Erling Haaland won the award for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record-equaling 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane secured his maiden Golden Shoe with the same goal tally for Bayern Munich the next season.
Kylian Mbappe is the reigning holder of the award after scoring 31 goals (62 points) for Real Madrid in 2024-25.
Now, the same three players are battling at the summit of the leaderboard again this season, with Kane currently leading the way.
