Who is Leading in the Race for the Golden Boot Award?

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

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

The prolific Norwegian striker is back in the running this campaign, but encounters stiff rivalry from Bayern Munich marksman Harry Kane and Spanish La Liga superstar Kylian Mbappe. With many fixtures remaining, other talents still have time to enter the fray.

What is the Golden Shoe?

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

Since the 1997-98, the prize has been overseen by European Sports Media, which implemented a points-based points system. Under this format, a player's goals are multiplied by a designated multiplier based on the strength ranking of their domestic competition.

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

For leagues ranked from sixth to twenty-second in UEFA list, such as the Portuguese league, goals are worth one and a half points. Goals in all other European leagues carry one point.

While the award has been jointly won on multiple occasions in the past, a regulation update from the 2019-20 states that in the case of a tie, the trophy goes to the player with the fewest minutes played.

If the tie remains, the subsequent deciding factor is the total of league assists, followed by the fewest goals from the penalty spot. Only after these criteria are used would the award be shared.

Identifying the Primary Contenders?

As it stands, a three-way race is underway for the current season's Golden Shoe, with the three most recent winners separated by just a solitary goal.

• Harry Kane (England captain) leads with 19 goals (38 points) from 15 Bundesliga matches.
• 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 place is Darko Lemajic of Latvia's club RFS, who has netted 28 goals (28 points) across the club's 36 league games in 2025.

Dutch side Feyenoord striker Ayase Ueda is joint-fifth with 18 goals (27 points) from 17 Eredivisie matches this season.

The rest 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 existence, the Golden Shoe has been awarded to some of football's most iconic stars.

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

Argentine legend Lionel Messi has won the most Golden Shoes, collecting the award on six separate occasions during his long spell at FC Barcelona.

Messi established the record for highest tally in a campaign 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 megastar 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 scored thirty-two goals for Liverpool.

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

Erling Haaland scooped the prize for the first time in 2022-23, scoring a Premier League record-equaling thirty-six goals (72 points). Harry Kane secured his first Golden Shoe with the same goal tally for Bayern Munich the following season.

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

Now, the same three players are battling at the summit of the leaderboard again this campaign, with Kane currently leading the way.