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The battle for the Golden Boot trophy is intensifying as the current season approaches its midway point.

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

The prodigious Norwegian goal-scorer is back in the running this term, but encounters stiff rivalry from German Bundesliga marksman Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many games remaining, other talents still have time to enter the contest.

Understanding the Golden Shoe?

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

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

Goals scored in the continent's five major leagues—the English Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, and French Ligue 1—are valued at 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 lower-ranked European leagues carry one point.

While the award has been jointly won on multiple occasions in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 states that in the event of a points tie, the trophy goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the tie remains, the subsequent deciding factor is the total of assists, followed by the least penalties scored. Only after these criteria are exhausted would the award be shared.

Who are the Main Contenders?

As it stands, a three-horse battle is underway for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the three 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 outings.
• Kylian Mbappe sits just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga matches.

In fourth is Darko Lemajic of Latvian side RFS, who has netted 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 term.

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

A Look at Past Winners

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

Portuguese icon Eusebio claimed the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring forty-two goals for SL Benfica. He later secured the award for a second time in the 1972-73 season.

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has secured the most Golden Shoes, claiming the award on six times during his long tenure at FC Barcelona.

Messi set the benchmark for highest tally in a campaign with fifty in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to date to win it in three successive seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 season with Man Utd 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 Liverpool's Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he netted 32 goals for Liverpool FC.

The prize has seen a new winner in every one 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 secured his maiden Golden Shoe with the same total for Bayern Munich the next 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 competing at the top of the standings once more this campaign, with Kane presently out in front the pack.