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The competition for the Golden Boot trophy is heating up as the 2025-26 season approaches its halfway mark.

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

The prodigious Norwegian striker is back in the running this term, but faces formidable rivalry from German Bundesliga marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of fixtures left to play, other talents still have an opportunity to enter the contest.

Understanding the Golden Shoe?

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

Since the 1997-98 season, the prize has been administered by European Sports Media, which introduced a points-based points system. Under this format, a player's goals are multiplied by a designated multiplier based on the UEFA coefficient of their domestic competition.

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

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 jointly won on multiple instances in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 season states that in the event of a points tie, the trophy goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the tie persists, the next tiebreaker is the total of assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only if these criteria are used would the award be split.

Who are the Main Challengers?

As it stands, a three-way tussle exists for the 2025-26 Golden Shoe, with the three previous 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 their 36 league games in 2025.

Feyenoord striker 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 calendar year schedule.

Reviewing Past Winners

Throughout its 59-year history, the Golden Shoe has been awarded to some of football's biggest names.

Portuguese legend 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.

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

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

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 with Man Utd before proceeding 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 scored 32 goals for Liverpool.

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

Erling Haaland scooped the prize for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his maiden Golden Shoe with the identical goal tally for Bayern Munich the next 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 very three players are competing at the summit of the standings again this campaign, with Kane currently out in front the pack.