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The contest for the prestigious Golden Shoe is heating up as the current season approaches its halfway mark.

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

The prolific Norwegian striker is back in the mix this season, but faces stiff rivalry from Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With many matches remaining, other talents still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the contest.

Understanding the Golden Shoe?

The European Golden Shoe was inaugurated in the 1967-68 season by the France-based newspaper L'Equipe to celebrate the top goalscorer in league matches from a European top division league.

Since the 1997-98, the prize has been overseen by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted points system. Under this format, a player's tallies are multiplied by a specific coefficient based on the strength ranking of their domestic competition.

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

For competitions ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA list, such as the Portuguese Primeira Liga, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in lower-ranked European leagues carry one point.

While the award has been jointly won on multiple instances in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 season dictates that in the event of a tie, the trophy goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the tie remains, the next deciding factor is the total of assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only after these tiebreakers are exhausted would the award be split.

Identifying the Primary Challengers?

As it stands, a three-way tussle is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the three most recent winners split 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 outings.
• Kylian Mbappe sits one back on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

In fourth place is RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvian club RFS, who has scored 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 fixtures this season.

The rest of the top 10 is made up of players from leagues that operate on a January-to-December schedule.

Reviewing Past Recipients

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

Portuguese legend Eusébio won the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for Benfica. He later secured the award for a second time in the 1972-73 season.

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has secured the record number of Golden Shoes, collecting the award on six separate times during his 17-year tenure at Barcelona.

Messi established the benchmark for most goals in a campaign with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to date to win it in three successive seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 season with Manchester United before proceeding to win it on three further occasions with Real Madrid.

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

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

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

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