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

With a different winner in each of the previous three campaigns, the honor remains wide open. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based striker to claim the award back in 2022-23.

The prodigious Norwegian goal-scorer is back in the hunt this season, but encounters tough competition from Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures remaining, other talents still have time to throw their hat into the contest.

What is the Golden Shoe?

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

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

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

For competitions ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA 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 honor has been jointly won on several occasions in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 states that in the case of a tie, the award goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the tie remains, the subsequent tiebreaker is the total of league assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only after these tiebreakers are exhausted would the prize be shared.

Identifying the Primary Challengers?

Currently, a three-way tussle exists for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the trio of previous winners separated by just a single goal.

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

In fourth place is RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvia's club RFS, who has netted 28 goals (28 points) across the club's 36 league games in 2025.

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

The rest of the top 10 is comprised of players from leagues that function on a January-to-December schedule.

A Look at Past Winners

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

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

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has won the most Golden Shoes, collecting the award on six separate times during his 17-year tenure at Barcelona.

Messi set the record for highest tally in a single season with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to date to win it in three consecutive seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first 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 club in England was Liverpool's Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he scored thirty-two goals for Liverpool.

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

Erling Haaland claimed 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 next year.

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

Now, the same three players are battling at the summit of the standings again this campaign, with Kane currently leading the way.