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The battle for the Golden Boot trophy is heating up as the 2025-26 season passes its mid-season juncture.

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

The prodigious Norwegian goal-scorer is once again in the running this campaign, but encounters formidable competition from German Bundesliga marksman Harry Kane and Real Madrid phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures left to play, other players still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the contest.

What is the Golden Shoe?

The Golden Boot award was first launched in the 1967-68 by the French newspaper L'Equipe to celebrate the leading scorer in league matches from a European top division league.

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

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

For competitions ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA's rankings, such as the Portuguese Primeira Liga, goals are worth one and a half points. Goals in all other European leagues carry one point.

While the award has been jointly won on several instances in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 season dictates that in the case of a points tie, the award goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the deadlock remains, the subsequent deciding factor is the total of league assists, followed by the least goals from the penalty spot. Only after these criteria are used would the award be split.

Who are the Leading Contenders?

At present, a three-horse tussle is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the three most recent winners separated by just a single goal.

• Harry Kane (English 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 matches.

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

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

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

Reviewing Previous Recipients

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

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

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has won the record number of Golden Shoes, collecting the honor on six occasions during his long spell at FC Barcelona.

Messi established the benchmark for most goals in a campaign with fifty in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the first and only player to date to win it in three straight 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 three more times with Real Madrid.

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

The award has seen a different winner in every one of the past three seasons.

Erling Haaland scooped the award for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane secured his first Golden Shoe with the identical goal tally for Bayern Munich the following season.

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

Now, the same three players are vying at the top of the standings once more this season, with Kane currently out in front the pack.