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The competition for the Golden Boot trophy is intensifying as the current season passes its halfway mark.

With a new winner in every one of the past three campaigns, the prize remains wide open. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based forward to secure the award back in 2022-23.

The prodigious Norwegian goal-scorer is once again in the mix this term, but faces stiff rivalry from Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many games left to play, other players still have time to enter the contest.

What is the European Golden Shoe Award?

The Golden Boot award was first launched in the 1967-68 season by the France-based publication L'Equipe to recognize the leading scorer in league matches from a European top-flight league.

Since the 1997-98, the prize has been overseen by European Sports Media, which introduced a weighted scoring system. Under this method, a player's goals are multiplied by a designated multiplier based on the strength ranking of their league.

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

For competitions ranked from sixth to twenty-second in UEFA's list, such as the Portuguese Primeira Liga, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in all other European leagues are worth one point.

While the award has been shared on several instances in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 states that in the event of a tie, the award goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the tie persists, the subsequent tiebreaker is the number of assists, followed by the least penalties scored. Only if these tiebreakers are used would the prize be split.

Identifying the Main Contenders?

As it stands, a three-way tussle is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the three most recent winners separated by just a solitary 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 appearances.
• Kylian Mbappe sits just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

In fourth place is Darko Lemajic of Latvian club RFS, who has scored 28 goals (28 points) across their 36 league games in 2025.

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

The rest of the top 10 is comprised of players from leagues that function on a January-to-December schedule.

Reviewing Past Recipients

Throughout its nearly six-decade existence, the Golden Shoe has been awarded to some of football's most iconic names.

Portuguese icon Eusebio 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 maestro Lionel Messi has secured the most Golden Shoes, claiming the honor on six times during his long spell at 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 Man Utd before going on to win it on three further occasions with Real Madrid.

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

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

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

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

Now, the same three players are competing at the summit of the leaderboard once more this campaign, with Kane presently leading the way.