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The contest for the Golden Boot trophy is reaching a fever pitch as the current season approaches its mid-season juncture.

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

The prodigious Norwegian goal-scorer is once again in the mix this season, but encounters stiff rivalry from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many matches remaining, other talents still have an opportunity to enter the fray.

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 domestic league matches from a European top-flight league.

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

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

For leagues ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA rankings, such as the Portuguese Primeira Liga, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in all other European leagues are worth 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 case of a tie, the award goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the tie remains, the subsequent deciding factor is the total of league assists, followed by the least goals from the penalty spot. Only if these tiebreakers are exhausted would the prize be split.

Identifying the Main Contenders?

Currently, a three-horse battle 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 matches.
• 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 games.

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

Dutch side Feyenoord striker Ayase Ueda is joint-fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie fixtures this term.

The rest of the top 10 is comprised of players from leagues that function on a calendar year schedule.

A Look at Past Winners

Throughout its nearly six-decade existence, the Golden Shoe has been awarded to some of football's most iconic names.

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

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has secured the record number of Golden Shoes, claiming the honor on six occasions during his long spell at Barcelona.

Messi established the benchmark for most goals in a single season with fifty in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the first and only player to ever to win it in three successive 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 inaugural player to win the award while at an club in England was Liverpool's Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he scored 32 goals for Liverpool.

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

Erling Haaland claimed the prize for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record-equaling thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his maiden Golden Shoe with the same total for Bayern Munich the next year.

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

Now, the same three players are battling at the summit of the leaderboard again this campaign, with Kane presently leading the pack.