🔗 Share this article Who is Out in Front in the Race for the Golden Boot Award? The battle for the prestigious Golden Shoe is intensifying as the current season approaches its mid-season juncture. With a different winner in each of the last three campaigns, the award remains up for grabs. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based player to secure the trophy back in the 2022-23 season. The prodigious Norwegian striker is once again in the mix this season, but encounters tough competition from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many games left to play, other players still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the contest. Harry Kane, Erling Haaland, and Kylian Mbappe have all claimed one European Golden Shoe in their careers. Understanding the Golden Shoe? The European Golden Shoe was inaugurated in the 1967-68 season by the French newspaper L'Equipe to recognize the top scorer in domestic league matches from a European top division league. Since the 1997-98 season, the award has been overseen by European Sports Media, which introduced a points-based points system. Under this format, a player's goals are weighted with a specific coefficient based on the strength ranking of their league. Goals scored in the continent's five major leagues—the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, and Ligue 1—are worth two points apiece. For leagues ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA list, such as the Portuguese league, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in lower-ranked European leagues carry one point. While the award has been shared on several occasions in the past, a rule change 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 next tiebreaker is the total of assists, followed by the least goals from the penalty spot. Only if these tiebreakers are used would the prize be shared. Who are the Leading Challengers? At present, a three-way race is underway for the 2025-26 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 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 Darko Lemajic of Latvian club RFS, who has netted 28 goals (28 points) across the club's 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 remainder of the current top ten is comprised of players from leagues that operate on a calendar year schedule. Reviewing Previous Recipients Lionel Messi holds the distinction for the highest number of Golden Shoe awards in the award's history with six. 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 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 legend Lionel Messi has won the most Golden Shoes, claiming the award on six times during his 17-year spell at Barcelona. Messi established the record for most goals in a campaign with fifty 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 superstar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 season with Man Utd before proceeding 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 netted 32 goals for Liverpool. The prize has seen a new winner in every one of the past three seasons. Erling Haaland won the award for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record-equaling thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his maiden Golden Shoe with the same goal tally for Bayern Munich the next season. Kylian Mbappe is the current winner of the award after scoring 31 goals (62 points) for Real Madrid in 2024-25. Now, the same three players are battling at the top of the standings again this campaign, with Kane presently out in front the way.