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The competition for the European Golden Shoe is heating up as the 2025-26 season passes its halfway mark.

With a new winner in each of the past three campaigns, the prize remains up for grabs. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based player to win the trophy back in the 2022-23 season.

The prodigious Norwegian striker is back in the mix this term, but faces stiff competition from Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures left to play, other talents still have an opportunity to enter the contest.

What is the Golden Shoe?

The European Golden Shoe was introduced in the 1967-68 season by the French publication L'Equipe to honor the highest goalscorer in domestic league matches from a European top-flight 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 coefficient based on the strength ranking of their league.

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

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

While the award has been jointly won on several occasions in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 states that in the case of a tie, the trophy goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

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

Who are the Leading Contenders?

Currently, a three-way race is underway for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the three most recent winners separated by just a single goal.

• Harry Kane (England captain) leads with 19 goals (38 points) from 15 Bundesliga matches.
• Erling Haaland also has 19 goals (38 points) from 17 Premier League outings.
• Kylian Mbappe sits just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga matches.

In fourth place is RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvian side RFS, who has netted 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 matches this season.

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

Reviewing Past Recipients

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

Portuguese legend Eusébio won the inaugural 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 record number of Golden Shoes, claiming the award on six occasions during his long spell at FC Barcelona.

Messi set the record for most goals in a single season 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 megastar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 season 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 English club was Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he scored thirty-two goals for Liverpool.

The prize has seen a new winner in every one of the last three seasons.

Erling Haaland won 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 same goal tally for Bayern Munich the next year.

Kylian Mbappe is the reigning winner 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 summit of the standings again this season, with Kane currently leading the way.