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The competition for the Golden Boot trophy is intensifying as the current season nears its halfway mark.

With a new winner in every one of the past three campaigns, the honor remains up for grabs. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based player to win the award back in 2022-23.

The prodigious Norwegian striker is once again in the running this term, but faces formidable competition from Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With many fixtures left to play, other talents still have an opportunity to throw their hat into the contest.

What is the Golden Shoe?

The Golden Boot award was first launched in the 1967-68 season by the French newspaper L'Equipe to celebrate the top scorer in domestic league matches from a European top division league.

Since the 1997-98, the award has been administered by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted scoring system. Under this format, a player's tallies are weighted with a designated coefficient based on the UEFA coefficient of their domestic competition.

Goals scored in Europe's top five leagues—the English Premier League, La Liga, German Bundesliga, Serie A, and Ligue 1—are worth two points apiece.

For competitions ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA's list, such as the Portuguese league, goals are worth 1.5 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 event of a tie, the trophy goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the tie remains, the next deciding factor is the total of assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only if these criteria are used would the prize be shared.

Who are the Primary Contenders?

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

In fourth is Darko Lemajic of Latvian club RFS, who has netted 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 matches this term.

The remainder of the current top ten is made up of players from leagues that operate on a calendar year schedule.

Reviewing Past Recipients

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

Portuguese icon Eusébio claimed the inaugural trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for SL Benfica. He then won the award for a second time in the 1972-73.

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has secured the most Golden Shoes, collecting the award on six occasions during his long spell at FC Barcelona.

Messi established the record 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 successive seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 with Man Utd 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 Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he netted thirty-two goals for Liverpool.

The award 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-equaling 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his first Golden Shoe with the same total for Bayern Munich the following season.

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

Now, the very three players are competing at the summit of the standings once more this season, with Kane currently leading the way.