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The battle for the European Golden Shoe is intensifying as the 2025-26 season passes its midway point.

With a new winner in each of the past three campaigns, the honor remains wide open. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based forward to secure the trophy back in 2022-23.

The prolific Norwegian striker is back in the mix this term, but faces stiff competition from Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many games left to play, other talents still have an opportunity to enter the fray.

What is the Golden Shoe?

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

Since the 1997-98 season, the award has been administered by European Sports Media, which implemented a points-based scoring system. Under this format, a player's goals are multiplied by a designated multiplier based on the UEFA coefficient of their league.

Goals scored in Europe's five major leagues—the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, and Ligue 1—are worth two points apiece.

For leagues ranked from sixth to twenty-second in UEFA list, 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 shared on several instances in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 dictates that in the case of a points tie, the award goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the tie persists, the subsequent deciding factor is the number of league assists, followed by the fewest goals from the penalty spot. Only after these tiebreakers are exhausted would the award be split.

Who are the Primary Contenders?

At present, a three-way battle is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the trio of previous winners separated by just a solitary 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 outings.
• Kylian Mbappe sits one back on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga matches.

In fourth place is Darko Lemajic of Latvia's club RFS, who has netted 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 matches this season.

The rest of the top 10 is made up of players from leagues that operate on a January-to-December schedule.

Reviewing Previous Recipients

Throughout its 59-year existence, the Golden Shoe has been awarded to some of football's biggest legends.

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 legend Lionel Messi has won the record number of Golden Shoes, collecting the award on six separate times during his 17-year spell at Barcelona.

Messi established the benchmark for most goals in a campaign with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to ever to win it in three consecutive seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 season 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 English club was Liverpool's Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he netted 32 goals for Liverpool.

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

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

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

Now, the very three players are battling at the summit of the standings again this season, with Kane currently out in front the way.