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The contest for the prestigious Golden Shoe is intensifying as the current season passes its halfway mark.

With a different winner in each of the last three campaigns, the prize remains highly contested. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based forward to claim the trophy back in the 2022-23 season.

The prodigious Norwegian goal-scorer is once again in the mix this campaign, but encounters stiff rivalry from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With many matches left to play, other talents still have time to enter the contest.

What is the European Golden Shoe Award?

The European Golden Shoe was first launched in the 1967-68 by the France-based newspaper L'Equipe to honor the top scorer 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 format, a player's tallies are multiplied by a designated coefficient based on the strength ranking of their domestic competition.

Goals scored in the continent's five major leagues—the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, and 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 lower-ranked European leagues are worth one point.

While the award has been jointly won on multiple occasions in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 season dictates that in the event of a tie, the trophy goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the tie persists, the next deciding factor is the total of league assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only after these criteria are exhausted would the award be split.

Who are the Leading Contenders?

At present, a three-way tussle exists for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the three most recent winners separated by just a single goal.

• Harry Kane (England captain) leads with 19 goals (38 points) from 15 Bundesliga games.
• 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 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 fixtures this term.

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

A Look at Previous Winners

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

Portuguese icon Eusébio claimed the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for SL Benfica. He later secured the award for a second time in the 1972-73 season.

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has won the record number of Golden Shoes, claiming the honor on six times during his long spell at FC Barcelona.

Messi established the benchmark 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 Man Utd before going on to win it three more times with Real Madrid.

The first player to win the award while at an English club was Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he netted 32 goals for Liverpool FC.

The prize has seen a different winner in each of the past three seasons.

Erling Haaland won the award 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 total for Bayern Munich the next year.

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

Now, the same trio are battling at the top of the leaderboard again this campaign, with Kane presently leading the way.