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The battle for the Golden Boot trophy is heating up as the 2025-26 season approaches its mid-season juncture.

With a different winner in each of the past three campaigns, the honor 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 prolific Norwegian goal-scorer is back in the running this term, but encounters tough competition from German Bundesliga marksman Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe. With plenty of games left to play, other players still have time to enter the contest.

What is the Golden Shoe?

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

Since the 1997-98, the award has been administered by European Sports Media, which introduced a points-based scoring system. Under this format, a player's goals are weighted with a specific multiplier based on the UEFA coefficient of their league.

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

For leagues ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA list, such as the Portuguese league, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in lower-ranked European leagues are worth one point.

While the award has been shared on several instances in the past, a rule change from the 2019-20 dictates that in the case of a tie, the trophy goes to the player with the least minutes played.

If the tie remains, the subsequent deciding factor is the number of league assists, followed by the fewest penalties scored. Only if these tiebreakers are exhausted would the prize be split.

Identifying the Primary Challengers?

At present, a three-horse race exists for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the trio of previous winners separated by just a single goal.

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

In fourth place 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 season.

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

A Look at Previous Recipients

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

Portuguese icon Eusébio claimed the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring 42 goals for SL Benfica. He later secured 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 separate occasions during his long tenure at Barcelona.

Messi established the record for most goals in a single season with fifty in 2011-12 (100 points). He also became the first and only player to date to win it in three successive seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his first award in the 2007-08 season 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 thirty-two goals for Liverpool.

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

Erling Haaland won the award for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record-equaling thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane earned his maiden Golden Shoe with the same 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 vying at the top of the standings once more this campaign, with Kane currently out in front the way.