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The competition for the prestigious Golden Shoe is intensifying as the current season nears its mid-season juncture.

With a different winner in every one of the last three campaigns, the prize remains up for grabs. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based player to claim the award back in 2022-23.

The prolific Norwegian goal-scorer is back in the hunt this term, but encounters stiff competition from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures remaining, other talents still have an opportunity to enter the fray.

What is the Golden Shoe?

The European Golden Shoe was first launched in the 1967-68 by the French publication L'Equipe to honor the highest scorer in domestic league matches from a European top-flight league.

Since the 1997-98, the prize has been administered by European Sports Media, which implemented a points-based scoring system. Under this method, a player's tallies are weighted with a specific multiplier based on the strength ranking of their league.

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

For leagues ranked from sixth to twenty-second in UEFA list, such as the Portuguese league, goals are worth one and a half points. Goals in lower-ranked European leagues carry one point.

While the award has been shared on multiple instances in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 season states that in the event of a tie, the trophy goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the deadlock remains, the next deciding factor is the total of league assists, followed by the least penalties scored. Only after these tiebreakers are used would the award be shared.

Who are the Leading Contenders?

At present, a three-way battle is underway for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the three previous winners split by just a single goal.

• Harry Kane (English 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 one back on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

In fourth is RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvian club RFS, who has scored 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 matches this term.

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

A Look at Past Winners

Throughout its nearly six-decade history, the Golden Shoe has been won by some of football's most iconic legends.

Portuguese legend Eusébio won the inaugural 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 record number of Golden Shoes, collecting the honor on six separate times during his 17-year tenure at FC Barcelona.

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

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first 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 English club was Liverpool's Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he scored 32 goals for Liverpool.

The award has seen a new 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 secured his maiden Golden Shoe with the identical goal tally for Bayern Munich the following 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 three players are competing at the top of the leaderboard once more this campaign, with Kane presently leading the way.