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The contest for the European Golden Shoe is intensifying as the 2025-26 season passes its mid-season juncture.

With a different winner in each of the last three campaigns, the honor remains up for grabs. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based player to claim the award back in the 2022-23 season.

The prolific Norwegian striker is back in the mix this season, but faces formidable competition from German Bundesliga marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With many games left to play, other talents still have an opportunity to enter the contest.

Understanding the Golden Shoe?

The European Golden Shoe was introduced in the 1967-68 by the France-based 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 weighted scoring system. Under this format, a player's goals are weighted with a designated coefficient based on the strength ranking of their domestic competition.

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

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

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

If the deadlock persists, the next deciding factor is the total of league assists, followed by the least penalties scored. Only after these criteria are used would the prize be split.

Who are the Main Contenders?

As it stands, a three-way tussle is underway for the 2025-26 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 games.
• 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 matches.

In fourth place is RFS striker Darko Lemajic of Latvian side RFS, who has scored 28 goals (28 points) across the club's 36 league games in 2025.

Dutch side Feyenoord forward Ayase Ueda is joint-fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie matches this season.

The remainder of the current top ten is comprised of players from leagues that function on a January-to-December schedule.

Reviewing Previous Winners

Throughout its nearly six-decade history, the Golden Shoe has been won by some of football's most iconic stars.

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 season.

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has won the most Golden Shoes, claiming the honor on six occasions during his long tenure at FC Barcelona.

Messi established the benchmark for most goals in a single season with fifty in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the first and only player to ever to win it in three consecutive seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 with Manchester United before proceeding to win it three more times with Real Madrid.

The inaugural player to win the award while at an club in England was Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he netted 32 goals for Liverpool FC.

The award has seen a different winner in each of the last three seasons.

Erling Haaland claimed the award for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record-equaling 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his first Golden Shoe with the identical total for Bayern Munich the following year.

Kylian Mbappe is the current holder of the award after scoring 31 goals (62 points) for Real Madrid in 2024-25.

Now, the very three players are vying at the summit of the standings once more this campaign, with Kane currently leading the pack.