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The battle for the prestigious Golden Shoe is reaching a fever pitch as the current season nears its mid-season juncture.

With a different 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 striker to secure the trophy back in the 2022-23 season.

The prolific Norwegian striker is once again in the hunt this term, but faces tough competition from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With many games remaining, other players still have time to throw their hat into the contest.

Understanding the Golden Shoe?

The Golden Boot award was introduced in the 1967-68 by the French publication L'Equipe to honor the leading goalscorer in domestic league matches from a European top division league.

Since the 1997-98 season, the prize has been administered by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted scoring system. Under this method, a player's tallies are weighted with a specific coefficient based on the UEFA coefficient of their league.

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

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

While the award has been shared on several instances in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 states that in the case of a tie, the trophy goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

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

Identifying the Leading Contenders?

Currently, a three-horse tussle is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the trio of most recent winners separated by just a single 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 just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga matches.

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

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

The rest of the current top ten is comprised of players from leagues that function on a calendar year schedule.

Reviewing Past Recipients

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

Portuguese icon Eusebio won the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring 42 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 award on six separate times during his 17-year spell at FC Barcelona.

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

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

The first player to win the award while at an club in England was Liverpool's Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he netted thirty-two goals for Liverpool FC.

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

Erling Haaland scooped the award for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane secured his first Golden Shoe with the identical total for Bayern Munich the next year.

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

Now, the same three players are competing at the summit of the standings once more this season, with Kane presently out in front the way.