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The contest for the Golden Boot trophy is intensifying as the 2025-26 season approaches its halfway mark.

With a new winner in every one of the previous three campaigns, the honor remains highly contested. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based striker to win the trophy back in the 2022-23 season.

The prodigious Norwegian goal-scorer is once again in the running this term, but faces tough rivalry from Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many fixtures remaining, other talents still have an opportunity to enter 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 leading scorer in league matches from a European top division league.

Since the 1997-98, the award has been overseen by European Sports Media, which introduced a weighted scoring system. Under this format, a player's goals are weighted with a designated coefficient based on the strength ranking of their league.

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

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 lower-ranked European leagues carry one point.

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

If the deadlock remains, the next deciding factor is the number of assists, followed by the least penalties scored. Only after these tiebreakers are used would the award be split.

Identifying the Primary Contenders?

At present, a three-way battle exists for the 2025-26 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 fixtures.
• 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 Darko Lemajic of Latvia's side RFS, who has scored 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 remainder of the current top ten is made up of players from leagues that operate on a January-to-December schedule.

Reviewing Past Recipients

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

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

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

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

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 with Manchester United 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 scored 32 goals for Liverpool.

The prize has seen a new winner in every one of the last three seasons.

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

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

Now, the same three players are vying at the top of the leaderboard again this campaign, with Kane currently leading the way.