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The competition for the prestigious Golden Shoe is heating up as the 2025-26 season passes its midway point.

With a different winner in each of the last three campaigns, the honor remains up for grabs. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based player to secure the award back in the 2022-23 season.

The prolific Norwegian striker is once again in the hunt this season, but faces tough rivalry from Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures remaining, other talents still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the fray.

What is the Golden Shoe?

The Golden Boot award was first launched in the 1967-68 season by the French publication L'Equipe to recognize the highest goalscorer in league matches from a European top-flight league.

Since the 1997-98 season, the prize has been administered by European Sports Media, which introduced a weighted scoring system. Under this method, a player's tallies are multiplied by a specific multiplier based on the strength ranking of their league.

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

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

While the honor has been jointly won on several occasions in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 states that in the case of a points tie, the award goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the tie persists, the next tiebreaker is the number of assists, followed by the least goals from the penalty spot. Only after these tiebreakers are exhausted would the award be split.

Who are the Main Contenders?

As it stands, a three-way tussle exists for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the trio of most recent winners separated 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 games.

In fourth is RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvia's side RFS, who has netted 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 matches this term.

The rest of the current top ten is made up of players from leagues that function on a calendar year schedule.

A Look at Previous Winners

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

Portuguese legend Eusebio claimed the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for SL Benfica. He later secured 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 occasions during his long tenure at Barcelona.

Messi established the benchmark for highest tally in a single season with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to date to win it in three successive seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 season with Man Utd before proceeding to win it three more times with Real Madrid.

The first player to win the award while at an English club was Liverpool's Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he netted 32 goals for Liverpool.

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

Erling Haaland won the award 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 identical goal tally for Bayern Munich the following year.

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

Now, the same trio are vying at the top of the leaderboard again this season, with Kane presently leading the pack.