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The competition for the European Golden Shoe is reaching a fever pitch as the current season passes its mid-season juncture.

With a new winner in every one of the last three campaigns, the award remains wide open. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based forward to claim the award back in 2022-23.

The prolific Norwegian goal-scorer is once again in the running this season, but encounters tough competition from German Bundesliga marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With many games left to play, other talents still have an opportunity to enter the contest.

What is the Golden Shoe?

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

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

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

While the award has been shared on multiple instances in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 season dictates that in the case of a tie, the trophy goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the tie remains, the next tiebreaker is the total of league assists, followed by the least penalties scored. Only if these tiebreakers are exhausted would the award be shared.

Who are the Main Contenders?

As it stands, a three-way tussle exists for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the three most recent winners split by just a solitary 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 games.

In fourth place is Darko Lemajic of Latvia's club RFS, who has scored 28 goals (28 points) across the club's 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 remainder of the current top ten is made up of players from leagues that function on a calendar year schedule.

A Look at Past Recipients

Throughout its 59-year existence, the Golden Shoe has been claimed by some of football's biggest names.

Portuguese icon Eusébio won the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for Benfica. He later secured the award for a second time in the 1972-73.

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has secured the most Golden Shoes, claiming the award on six times during his 17-year spell at FC Barcelona.

Messi established the benchmark for highest tally in a campaign with 50 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 first won award in the 2007-08 with Manchester United before going on to win it on three further occasions 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 FC.

The award has seen a different winner in each of the last 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 earned his maiden Golden Shoe with the same total for Bayern Munich the next year.

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

Now, the very three players are vying at the top of the leaderboard again this campaign, with Kane presently leading the pack.