Who is Out in Front in the Race for the Golden Shoe?

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

With a new winner in every one of the previous three campaigns, the honor remains highly contested. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the last Premier League-based forward to secure the trophy back in 2022-23.

The prolific Norwegian goal-scorer is back in the mix this season, but faces stiff rivalry from German Bundesliga marksman Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many fixtures left to play, other players still have time to throw their hat into the fray.

Understanding the Golden Shoe?

The Golden Boot award was first launched in the 1967-68 by the French newspaper L'Equipe to honor the top goalscorer in domestic league matches from a European top-flight league.

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

Goals scored in the continent's five major leagues—the Premier League, Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, and French 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 1.5 points. Goals in lower-ranked European leagues are worth one point.

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

If the tie remains, the subsequent tiebreaker is the total of assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only after these criteria are exhausted would the award be shared.

Who are the Leading Contenders?

Currently, a three-horse race is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the three previous winners separated 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 outings.
• Kylian Mbappe sits just behind on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga games.

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

Dutch side Feyenoord striker Ayase Ueda is tied for fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie fixtures this term.

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

A Look at Previous Winners

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

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

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has secured the record number of Golden Shoes, collecting the award on six times during his long spell at 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 consecutive seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 season with Man Utd before proceeding 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 32 goals for Liverpool FC.

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

Erling Haaland scooped 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 same goal tally for Bayern Munich the following season.

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

Now, the very trio are vying at the top of the leaderboard once more this season, with Kane presently out in front the pack.