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The battle for the prestigious Golden Shoe is intensifying as the 2025-26 season passes its halfway mark.

With a new winner in every one of the previous three campaigns, the prize remains up for grabs. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based striker to win the award back in the 2022-23 season.

The prolific Norwegian goal-scorer is back in the hunt this season, but encounters stiff competition from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures remaining, other talents still have time to enter the fray.

What is the Golden Shoe?

The European Golden Shoe was inaugurated in the 1967-68 by the French publication L'Equipe to celebrate the highest scorer in league matches from a European top-flight league.

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

Goals scored in the continent's five major leagues—the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, and French Ligue 1—are valued at two points each.

For competitions ranked from sixth to twenty-second in UEFA list, such as the Portuguese league, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in all other European leagues are worth one point.

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

If the deadlock persists, the subsequent deciding factor is the total of league assists, followed by the least penalties scored. Only after these criteria are used would the award be shared.

Who are the Primary Challengers?

At present, a three-horse race exists for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the trio of most recent winners separated by just a solitary 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 appearances.
• Kylian Mbappe sits one back on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga matches.

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

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 comprised of players from leagues that function on a January-to-December schedule.

A Look at Previous Winners

Throughout its nearly six-decade existence, the Golden Shoe has been won by some of football's biggest legends.

Portuguese legend Eusébio claimed the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for Benfica. He then won the award for a second time in the 1972-73 season.

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has won the most Golden Shoes, collecting the award on six times during his long tenure at FC Barcelona.

Messi set the record for highest tally in a campaign with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to date to win it in three straight seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese megastar 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 inaugural player to win the award while at an English club was Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he netted thirty-two goals for Liverpool.

The prize has seen a new winner in each of the past three seasons.

Erling Haaland won the award for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane secured his first Golden Shoe with the identical total for Bayern Munich the next year.

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

Now, the very trio are vying at the summit of the standings again this campaign, with Kane currently leading the pack.