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The battle for the Golden Boot trophy is heating up as the current season passes its halfway mark.

With a different winner in each of the previous three campaigns, the award remains highly contested. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based striker to win the trophy back in 2022-23.

The prolific Norwegian striker is back in the running this season, but faces stiff competition from Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With many games remaining, other players still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the fray.

What is the Golden Shoe?

The Golden Boot award was inaugurated in the 1967-68 by the French publication L'Equipe to honor 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 points-based points system. Under this format, a player's tallies are weighted with a designated multiplier based on the UEFA coefficient of their league.

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

For competitions ranked from sixth to twenty-second in UEFA's 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 shared on multiple instances in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 season dictates that in the event of a tie, the award goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the tie persists, the next deciding factor is the number of league assists, followed by the least penalties scored. Only if these tiebreakers are exhausted would the prize be shared.

Identifying the Leading Challengers?

At present, a three-way race exists for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the trio of most recent winners split by just a single 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 just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

In fourth place is Darko Lemajic of Latvian side RFS, who has netted 28 goals (28 points) across their 36 league games in 2025.

Feyenoord striker Ayase Ueda is tied for fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie fixtures this season.

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

Reviewing Previous Recipients

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

Portuguese legend Eusebio won the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring forty-two goals for Benfica. He later won the award for a second time in the 1972-73.

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has secured the most Golden Shoes, collecting the honor on six separate occasions during his long spell at Barcelona.

Messi established the benchmark for most goals in a single season with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to date to win it in three straight seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 season 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 netted thirty-two goals for Liverpool FC.

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

Erling Haaland won the award 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 total for Bayern Munich the next year.

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

Now, the very trio are competing at the top of the standings once more this campaign, with Kane presently out in front the way.