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The battle for the prestigious Golden Shoe is intensifying as the current season approaches its midway point.

With a new winner in every one of the last three campaigns, the prize remains wide open. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based player to secure the award back in 2022-23.

The prodigious Norwegian striker is back in the hunt this season, but encounters tough rivalry from German Bundesliga forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many games remaining, other talents still have time to enter the contest.

What is the Golden Shoe?

The European Golden Shoe was first launched in the 1967-68 by the French newspaper L'Equipe to recognize the highest 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 weighted points system. Under this format, a player's tallies are multiplied by a designated coefficient based on the UEFA coefficient of their domestic competition.

Goals scored in the continent's five major leagues—the 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 list, such as the Portuguese league, goals are worth one and a half 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 event of a tie, the trophy goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the deadlock remains, the subsequent deciding factor is the total of assists, followed by the least goals from the penalty spot. Only if these tiebreakers are used would the prize be split.

Who are the Primary Challengers?

As it stands, a three-way race exists 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 appearances.
• Kylian Mbappe sits one back on 18 goals (36 points) in 18 La Liga matches.

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

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

The rest of the top 10 is comprised of players from leagues that operate on a calendar year schedule.

A Look at Previous Winners

Throughout its 59-year existence, the Golden Shoe has been awarded to some of football's most iconic legends.

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

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

Messi established the record 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 straight seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 season 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 32 goals for Liverpool.

The award has seen a different winner in every one of the past 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 following 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 same trio are battling at the summit of the standings again this campaign, with Kane currently leading the way.