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The battle for the prestigious Golden Shoe is reaching a fever pitch as the 2025-26 season nears its midway point.

With a different winner in each of the past three campaigns, the prize remains up for grabs. Manchester City star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based striker to secure the trophy back in the 2022-23 season.

The prodigious Norwegian striker is once again in the hunt this campaign, but faces stiff rivalry from Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many matches remaining, other players still have an opportunity to enter the fray.

Understanding the Golden Shoe?

The Golden Boot award was first launched in the 1967-68 by the France-based publication L'Equipe to honor the highest scorer in domestic league matches from a European top division league.

Since the 1997-98 season, the award has been administered by European Sports Media, which implemented a weighted points system. Under this method, a player's tallies are multiplied by a specific coefficient based on the strength ranking of their domestic competition.

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

For leagues ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA rankings, 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 rule change from the 2019-20 states that in the case of a tie, the award goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the deadlock remains, the subsequent tiebreaker is the total of assists, followed by the fewest goals from the penalty spot. Only after these criteria are used would the prize be shared.

Who are the Main Contenders?

At present, a three-way tussle exists for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the trio of most recent winners split by just a single goal.

• Harry Kane (English captain) leads with 19 goals (38 points) from 15 Bundesliga fixtures.
• Erling Haaland also has 19 goals (38 points) from 17 Premier League appearances.
• Kylian Mbappe sits just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga matches.

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

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

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

Reviewing Past Recipients

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

Portuguese legend Eusebio claimed the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for Benfica. He later won the award for a second time in the 1972-73.

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

Messi set the benchmark for highest tally in a campaign 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 claimed his first 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 Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he netted 32 goals for Liverpool.

The prize has seen a new winner in each of the last three seasons.

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

Kylian Mbappe is the reigning winner of the award after scoring thirty-one 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 campaign, with Kane currently out in front the pack.