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The competition for the European Golden Shoe is heating up as the current season approaches its halfway mark.

With a new winner in every one of the previous three campaigns, the prize remains highly contested. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based forward to claim the trophy back in 2022-23.

The prodigious Norwegian striker is back in the hunt this season, but faces formidable rivalry from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures remaining, other players still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the fray.

What is the European Golden Shoe Award?

The European Golden Shoe was inaugurated in the 1967-68 season by the France-based newspaper L'Equipe to recognize the top goalscorer in league matches from a European top division league.

Since the 1997-98 season, the prize has been overseen by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted points system. Under this method, a player's goals are multiplied by a specific coefficient based on the UEFA coefficient of their domestic competition.

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

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 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 next deciding factor is the number of assists, followed by the least goals from the penalty spot. Only if these criteria are used would the award be shared.

Who are the Leading Challengers?

At present, a three-horse tussle exists for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the three previous winners separated 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 one back on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga matches.

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

Dutch side Feyenoord forward 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 function on a January-to-December schedule.

A Look at Previous Recipients

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

Portuguese legend Eusebio won the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for Benfica. He later won the award for a second time in the 1972-73 season.

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

Messi set the benchmark for most goals in a single season 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 to 2019.

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 with Manchester United 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 award has seen a new 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 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane secured his first Golden Shoe with the identical goal tally for Bayern Munich the next year.

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

Now, the very trio are competing at the top of the leaderboard again this season, with Kane currently out in front the way.