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The contest for the prestigious Golden Shoe is intensifying as the 2025-26 season passes its mid-season juncture.

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

The prolific Norwegian goal-scorer is once again in the hunt this season, but faces tough competition from Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane and Real Madrid phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of games remaining, other players still have time to enter the fray.

Understanding the Golden Shoe?

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

Since the 1997-98, the award has been overseen by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted scoring system. Under this format, a player's tallies are weighted with a specific multiplier based on the strength ranking of their domestic competition.

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

For leagues ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA rankings, such as the Portuguese league, 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 instances in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 season states that in the case of a points tie, the trophy goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the deadlock remains, the next deciding factor is the total of assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only after these tiebreakers are used would the prize be split.

Identifying the Leading Challengers?

At present, a three-horse battle is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the trio of most recent winners split by just a single 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 outings.
• Kylian Mbappe sits just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

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

Feyenoord striker Ayase Ueda is tied for fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie fixtures this season.

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

Reviewing Previous Winners

Throughout its 59-year existence, the Golden Shoe has been awarded to some of football's biggest stars.

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

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

Messi set the record for most goals 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 successive seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 with Manchester United before proceeding 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 scored 32 goals for Liverpool FC.

The prize has seen a different winner in every one of the last three seasons.

Erling Haaland won the prize for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record-equaling thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane secured his first Golden Shoe with the same total for Bayern Munich the next year.

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

Now, the very three players are competing at the summit of the leaderboard once more this season, with Kane currently leading the way.