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The competition for the Golden Boot trophy is heating up as the 2025-26 season approaches its halfway mark.

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

The prolific Norwegian striker is back in the mix this term, but encounters tough competition from Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many matches left to play, other talents still have time to throw their hat into the fray.

What is the Golden Shoe?

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

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

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

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

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

If the tie persists, the subsequent tiebreaker is the number of league assists, followed by the least goals from the penalty spot. Only after these tiebreakers are used would the award be shared.

Identifying the Primary Challengers?

At present, a three-way race exists 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 appearances.
• Kylian Mbappe sits just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

In fourth is RFS striker 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 made up of players from leagues that function on a January-to-December schedule.

A Look at Previous Recipients

Throughout its nearly six-decade existence, the Golden Shoe has been awarded to some of football's most iconic names.

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

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has won the record number of Golden Shoes, collecting the honor on six occasions during his long spell at Barcelona.

Messi set the benchmark for highest tally in a campaign 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 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 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 English club was Liverpool's Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he netted thirty-two 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 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his first Golden Shoe with the identical goal tally for Bayern Munich the next year.

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

Now, the very three players are competing at the top of the standings again this season, with Kane currently leading the way.