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

With a new winner in each of the previous three campaigns, the award remains wide open. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based striker to claim the award back in 2022-23.

The prolific Norwegian striker is back in the hunt this campaign, but faces formidable competition from Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With many matches remaining, other talents still have an opportunity to enter the fray.

Understanding the Golden Shoe?

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

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

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

For competitions ranked from sixth to twenty-second in UEFA list, such as the Portuguese league, goals are worth one and a half points. Goals in lower-ranked European leagues carry one point.

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

If the deadlock remains, the next deciding factor is the number of assists, followed by the fewest goals from the penalty spot. Only if these criteria are used would the award be split.

Who are the Leading Contenders?

Currently, a three-horse race is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the trio of 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 appearances.
• Kylian Mbappe sits just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

In fourth place is RFS striker 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 joint-fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie fixtures this season.

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

A Look at Past Winners

Throughout its nearly six-decade existence, the Golden Shoe has been claimed by some of football's most iconic names.

Portuguese legend Eusebio claimed the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring forty-two goals for Benfica. He then won 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 honor on six separate times during his long spell at 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 date to win it in three straight 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 English club was Liverpool's Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he scored 32 goals for Liverpool FC.

The prize has seen a new winner in each 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 secured his maiden Golden Shoe with the identical goal tally for Bayern Munich the next year.

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

Now, the very three players are vying at the summit of the standings again this season, with Kane presently out in front the way.