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The battle for the Golden Boot trophy is reaching a fever pitch as the current season nears its halfway mark.

With a new winner in each of the last three campaigns, the honor remains up for grabs. Premier League star Erling Haaland was the most recent Premier League-based striker to claim the trophy back in the 2022-23 season.

The prodigious Norwegian striker is once again in the mix this season, but faces tough rivalry from Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane and Real Madrid phenomenon Kylian Mbappe. With many matches remaining, other players still have an opportunity to enter the contest.

What is the Golden Shoe?

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

Since the 1997-98, the prize has been overseen by European Sports Media, which introduced a points-based scoring system. Under this method, a player's tallies are weighted with a designated coefficient based on the UEFA coefficient of their league.

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

For competitions ranked from sixth to twenty-second in UEFA's rankings, such as the Portuguese league, goals are worth 1.5 points. Goals in all other European leagues are worth one point.

While the honor has been jointly won on multiple occasions in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 season dictates that in the event of a points tie, the trophy goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the deadlock persists, the next deciding factor is the number of assists, followed by the least penalties scored. Only after these criteria are exhausted would the award be shared.

Who are the Leading Contenders?

At present, a three-horse battle is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the three previous winners split by just a single goal.

• Harry Kane (England captain) leads with 19 goals (38 points) from 15 Bundesliga games.
• 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 place is Darko Lemajic of Latvian 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 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 Previous Recipients

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

Portuguese legend Eusébio won the first-ever trophy in 1968, scoring forty-two goals for Benfica. He then won the award for a second time in the 1972-73.

Argentine maestro Lionel Messi has won the most Golden Shoes, claiming the award on six occasions during his 17-year spell at 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 successive seasons from 2016 to 2019.

Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo first won award in the 2007-08 season with Manchester United before going on to win it on three further occasions with Real Madrid.

The inaugural player to win the award while at an English club was Liverpool's Ian Rush in 1983-84, when he scored 32 goals for Liverpool FC.

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

Erling Haaland won the prize for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record 36 goals (72 points). Harry Kane secured his maiden Golden Shoe with the same total for Bayern Munich the following season.

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

Now, the same trio are vying at the summit of the standings once more this campaign, with Kane presently out in front the pack.