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The competition for the Golden Boot trophy is reaching a fever pitch as the current season approaches its halfway mark.

With a new winner in each of the previous three campaigns, the award remains highly contested. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based striker to claim the trophy back in the 2022-23 season.

The prodigious Norwegian striker is once again in the hunt this season, but faces stiff competition from German Bundesliga marksman Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many games left to play, other talents still have time to throw their hat into the fray.

Understanding the European Golden Shoe Award?

The Golden Boot award was introduced in the 1967-68 season by the French publication L'Equipe to honor the leading scorer in domestic league matches from a European top-flight league.

Since the 1997-98 season, the prize has been overseen by European Sports Media, which introduced a points-based scoring system. Under this format, a player's goals are weighted with a specific multiplier based on the strength ranking of their domestic competition.

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

For competitions 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 are worth one point.

While the award has been shared on multiple instances in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 dictates that in the event of a points tie, the award goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

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

Who are the Primary Contenders?

Currently, a three-horse battle is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the trio of previous winners separated by just a single 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 Darko Lemajic of Latvian club RFS, who has netted 28 goals (28 points) across their 36 league games in 2025.

Dutch side 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 comprised of players from leagues that function on a calendar year schedule.

A Look at Past Recipients

Throughout its 59-year existence, the Golden Shoe has been won by some of football's biggest legends.

Portuguese icon Eusebio won the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for Benfica. He later won the award for a second time in the 1972-73.

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has won the record number of Golden Shoes, claiming the award on six separate times during his long tenure at Barcelona.

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

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 season with Man Utd before proceeding to win it on three further occasions with Real Madrid.

The first player to win the award while at an club in England was 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 scooped the prize for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his first Golden Shoe with the same goal tally 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 very three players are competing at the top of the standings again this season, with Kane currently out in front the way.