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The competition for the Golden Boot trophy is intensifying as the 2025-26 season passes its mid-season juncture.

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

The prolific Norwegian striker is once again in the running this term, but faces stiff rivalry from Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures left to play, other talents still have time to throw their hat into the fray.

What is the Golden Shoe?

The Golden Boot award was first launched in the 1967-68 by the France-based newspaper L'Equipe to recognize the top scorer in league matches from a European top-flight league.

Since the 1997-98, the prize has been overseen by European Sports Media, which introduced a points-based points system. Under this format, a player's goals are multiplied by a designated coefficient based on the strength ranking of their league.

Goals scored in Europe's top five leagues—the English Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, and 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 are worth one point.

While the award has been shared on multiple instances in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 dictates that in the event 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 league assists, followed by the least penalties scored. Only after these tiebreakers are exhausted would the prize be shared.

Identifying the Main Challengers?

At present, a three-horse race exists for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the trio of previous winners separated 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 appearances.
• Kylian Mbappe sits one back on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

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

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

The remainder of the top 10 is made up of players from leagues that function on a January-to-December schedule.

Reviewing Previous Recipients

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

Portuguese icon Eusébio won the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring forty-two goals for Benfica. He later secured the award for a second time in the 1972-73.

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has secured the record number of Golden Shoes, claiming the award on six separate times during his 17-year tenure at FC Barcelona.

Messi set the benchmark for most goals in a campaign 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 megastar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 season with Man Utd before going on to win it on three further occasions 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 scored thirty-two goals for Liverpool.

The prize has seen a different winner in every one of the past 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 secured his maiden Golden Shoe with the identical goal tally for Bayern Munich the following year.

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

Now, the same three players are battling at the summit of the leaderboard once more this season, with Kane currently leading the pack.