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The battle for the prestigious Golden Shoe is reaching a fever pitch as the 2025-26 season approaches its midway point.

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

The prodigious Norwegian goal-scorer is back in the hunt this campaign, but faces formidable rivalry from German Bundesliga marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures left to play, other talents still have an opportunity to enter the fray.

What is the European Golden Shoe Award?

The European Golden Shoe was first launched in the 1967-68 by the France-based publication L'Equipe to celebrate the top goalscorer in league matches from a European top-flight league.

Since the 1997-98 season, the prize has been administered by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted points system. Under this method, a player's tallies are weighted with a designated coefficient based on the UEFA coefficient of their domestic competition.

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

For leagues ranked from sixth to twenty-second 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 award has been shared on several instances in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 dictates that in the event of a points tie, the trophy goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the tie remains, the next tiebreaker 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 Primary Contenders?

At present, a three-way race is underway for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the three previous winners split 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 appearances.
• Kylian Mbappe sits just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

In fourth is RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvia's side RFS, who has scored 28 goals (28 points) across their 36 league games in 2025.

Dutch side Feyenoord striker Ayase Ueda is joint-fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie matches this season.

The rest of the current top ten is made up of players from leagues that function on a calendar year schedule.

Reviewing Previous Winners

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

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

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has secured the most Golden Shoes, claiming the award on six times during his long spell at Barcelona.

Messi set the benchmark for most goals in a single season with fifty in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to date to win it in three successive seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 with Manchester United before going on to win it on three further occasions 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 award has seen a new winner in each of the last three seasons.

Erling Haaland claimed the award for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his first Golden Shoe with the identical total for Bayern Munich the next year.

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

Now, the very trio are battling at the top of the leaderboard again this campaign, with Kane presently out in front the pack.