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The contest for the European Golden Shoe is heating up as the 2025-26 season approaches its halfway mark.

With a new winner in every one of the last three campaigns, the prize remains highly contested. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based player to secure the trophy back in the 2022-23 season.

The prolific Norwegian striker is once again in the mix this season, but encounters tough competition from German Bundesliga marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures remaining, other talents still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the contest.

What is the Golden Shoe?

The European Golden Shoe was first launched in the 1967-68 season by the French newspaper L'Equipe to celebrate the highest goalscorer in domestic league matches from a European top-flight league.

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

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

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

While the honor has been shared on multiple occasions in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 season dictates that in the case of a tie, the award goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the tie remains, the subsequent tiebreaker is the total of league assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only after these tiebreakers are used would the prize be shared.

Who are the Leading Contenders?

As it stands, a three-horse race is underway for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the three most recent winners separated by just a solitary 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 outings.
• Kylian Mbappe sits one back on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

In fourth is Darko Lemajic of Latvian side RFS, who has scored 28 goals (28 points) across the club's 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 rest of the top 10 is made up of players from leagues that function on a calendar year schedule.

A Look at Past Recipients

Throughout its nearly six-decade existence, the Golden Shoe has been awarded to some of football's most iconic legends.

Portuguese icon Eusébio won the first-ever 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 won the record number of Golden Shoes, claiming the honor on six separate occasions during his 17-year spell at FC Barcelona.

Messi established the record for highest tally in a single season with 50 in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the only player to ever to win it in three successive seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 season with Manchester United before going on 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.

The prize has seen a different winner in every one of the last three seasons.

Erling Haaland claimed the award 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 identical goal tally for Bayern Munich the following season.

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

Now, the same trio are competing at the summit of the standings once more this campaign, with Kane currently out in front the pack.