🔗 Share this article Who's Leading in the Pursuit for the Golden Shoe? The contest for the prestigious Golden Shoe is reaching a fever pitch as the 2025-26 season approaches its mid-season juncture. With a different winner in each of the previous three campaigns, the prize remains highly contested. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based forward to claim the award back in 2022-23. The prolific Norwegian striker is once again in the hunt this season, but faces stiff rivalry from Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of games remaining, other talents still have time to enter the fray. Harry Kane, Erling Haaland, and Kylian Mbappe have all claimed one European Golden Shoe in their careers. Understanding the European Golden Shoe Award? The European Golden Shoe was first launched in the 1967-68 season by the French publication L'Equipe to celebrate the top scorer in domestic league matches from a European top division league. Since the 1997-98 season, the prize has been administered by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted points system. Under this method, a player's goals are weighted with a specific coefficient based on the UEFA coefficient of their domestic competition. Goals scored in the continent's five major leagues—the Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, and Ligue 1—are worth two points each. For competitions ranked from sixth to twenty-second in UEFA's list, such as the Portuguese league, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in all other European leagues are worth one point. While the award has been jointly won on multiple occasions in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 season dictates that in the case of a points tie, the trophy goes to the player with the fewest minutes played. If the deadlock persists, the subsequent deciding factor is the total of assists, followed by the least goals from the penalty spot. Only if these tiebreakers are used would the prize be split. Identifying the Main Contenders? Currently, a three-horse tussle exists for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the three most recent winners separated by just a single 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 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 the club's 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 rest of the current top ten is made up of players from leagues that operate on a calendar year schedule. A Look at Past Winners Lionel Messi holds the record for the most Golden Shoe awards in the award's history with six. Throughout its 59-year existence, the Golden Shoe has been won by some of football's biggest names. Portuguese legend Eusébio won the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring forty-two goals for Benfica. He then won the award for a second time in the 1972-73. Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has won the most Golden Shoes, claiming the honor on six separate occasions during his long spell at Barcelona. Messi established the record for most goals in a single season with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the first and only player to ever to win it in three consecutive seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19. Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 with Man Utd before going on 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 FC. The award has seen a different winner in every one of the past three seasons. Erling Haaland won the award for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his maiden Golden Shoe with the same total for Bayern Munich the next season. Kylian Mbappe is the reigning holder of the award after scoring 31 goals (62 points) for Real Madrid in 2024-25. Now, the same three players are competing at the top of the standings again this campaign, with Kane currently out in front the way.