🔗 Share this article Who is Leading in the Race for the European Golden Shoe? The competition for the prestigious Golden Shoe is intensifying as the current season passes its halfway mark. With a different winner in every one of the past three campaigns, the honor remains wide open. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based player to claim the trophy back in 2022-23. The prodigious Norwegian goal-scorer is once again in the hunt this term, but encounters tough rivalry from German Bundesliga marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures left to play, other players still have time to enter the contest. Harry Kane, Erling Haaland, and Kylian Mbappe have all secured one European Golden Shoe so far. What is the Golden Shoe? The Golden Boot award was inaugurated in the 1967-68 by the France-based publication L'Equipe to recognize the leading goalscorer in league matches from a European top-flight league. Since the 1997-98, the prize has been administered by European Sports Media, which introduced a weighted scoring system. Under this format, a player's tallies are weighted with a specific multiplier based on the UEFA coefficient of their domestic competition. Goals scored in the continent's five major leagues—the Premier League, La Liga, German Bundesliga, Serie A, and Ligue 1—are worth two points each. For competitions ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA's rankings, 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 multiple occasions in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 season dictates that in the event of a points tie, the trophy goes to the player with the least minutes played. If the deadlock persists, the subsequent tiebreaker is the total of league assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only after these tiebreakers are exhausted would the prize be shared. Identifying the Main Challengers? Currently, a three-horse tussle is underway for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the trio of previous winners split 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 matches. In fourth is Darko Lemajic of Latvian club RFS, who has scored 28 goals (28 points) across their 36 league games in 2025. Feyenoord forward Ayase Ueda is tied for fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie fixtures this term. The remainder of the current top ten is comprised of players from leagues that operate on a calendar year schedule. Reviewing Past Winners Lionel Messi holds the record for the most Golden Shoe awards in history with six wins. Throughout its nearly six-decade history, the Golden Shoe has been awarded to some of football's most iconic stars. Portuguese icon Eusebio claimed the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring forty-two goals for SL Benfica. He later secured the award for a second time in the 1972-73. Argentine legend Lionel Messi has won the most Golden Shoes, claiming the award on six occasions during his 17-year tenure at Barcelona. Messi set the record for highest tally in a campaign with fifty in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to ever to win it in three successive seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19. Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 with Manchester United before proceeding to win it on three further occasions with Real Madrid. The first player to win the award while at an club in England was Liverpool's Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he scored thirty-two goals for Liverpool FC. The award has seen a new winner in every one of the past 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 first Golden Shoe with the identical total for Bayern Munich the next season. Kylian Mbappe is the current holder of the award after scoring 31 goals (62 points) for Real Madrid in 2024-25. Now, the same three players are battling at the top of the standings again this season, with Kane presently out in front the pack.