European Golden Shoe 2025/26: One goal separates Kane, Mbappe and Haaland

Carlo Garganese

• 15 Dec 2025 11:47 GMT
• 17 min read

Feature

Kylian Mbappe is looking to defend his title in the European Golden Shoe award during the 2025/26 season, but he is facing stiff competition from some of the continent’s elite strikers.

Real Madrid and France forward Mbappe triumphed for the first time last season, courtesy of a magnificent run of form towards the end of the campaign.

Mbappe was not leading the race to win the European golden boot until Real Madrid’s 38th and final LaLiga match of the season.

But he still found a way to come out on top, finishing with 31 goals and 62 Golden Shoe points to narrowly edge out Viktor Gyokeres, Mohamed Salah and Robert Lewandowski in one of the closest races for many years.

Bayern star Harry Kane was also in the mix, narrowly missing out on retaining the title he won in 2023/24, while Mateo Retegui, Alexander Isak and Erling Haaland all featured in a star-studded top eight in the continental scoring standings.

Mbappe would have liked his chances of winning the Golden Shoe race for the first time after moving from Paris Saint-Germain to Real Madrid ahead of 2024/25.

While Mbappe was yet to come out on top in the Golden Shoe charts prior to last season, he had been very close on multiple occasions, scoring at least 27 goals in five of his final six seasons playing for PSG in Ligue 1 and regularly challenging for a podium spot.

That run included a 33-goal season in 2018/19 that saw him finish just three short of Lionel Messi, which was the last time the Argentina great triumphed during his stunning career at Barcelona.

READ MORE: Premier League 2025/26 Top Scorers

As Real Madrid's new leading light, Mbappe impressively scored the most goals in Europe for 2024/25, even though LaLiga, Champions League and Copa del Rey glory eluded him on a team level.

He became the first Real Madrid winner of the award for 10 years, with Cristiano Ronaldo having been the last player from Los Blancos to prevail back in 2014/15.

READ MORE: Premier League Assists Standings

As for this season, Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham and Lamine Yamal are among a host of other top LaLiga contenders to score the most goals in Europe’s top five leagues.

Ousmane Dembele, meanwhile, came into the Ligue 1 campaign on a high after achieving Champions League glory with PSG and Serhou Guirassy is a threat from the Bundesliga after impressing both domestically and in Europe last season.

As well as Salah, Isak and Haaland, candidates from the Premier League are likely to include Cole Palmer, Omar Marmoush and Hugo Ekitike, while Benjamin Sesko will hope to boost Manchester United.

READ MORE: Manchester United 2025/26 Top Scorers

Gyokeres is also playing his football in England this season after joining Arsenal from Sporting CP and impressing so much in the Golden Shoe race last time around.

He had been in the top 10 of the Golden Shoe charts for much of last season but then found another gear towards the end of the year, scoring a hat-trick against Moreirense before netting a stunning four-goal haul in a match with Boavista in the space of nine days to charge up the standings.

Gyokeres ultimately finished as Golden Shoe runner-up with an astonishing 39 goals in the Primeira Liga, helping Sporting to title glory with a goal in the 2-0 win over Vitoria on the final day of the season.

READ MORE: Most Assists In Europe 2025/26

His goals in Portugal's top flight were worth 1.5 points per strike, so he had to score more goals than his main rivals to remain in with a fighting chance of becoming the first player for 23 years to win the Golden Shoe from outside the major European leagues.

After falling agonisingly short of what would have been seen as a shock triumph, Gyokeres' league goals with the Gunners will now be worth 2 points each, so he is hoping to go one better this season, and this time came into the campaign among the favourites.

The big names often triumph in this award, but there have also been surprise winners in the past, including Lazio’s Ciro Immobile in 2019/20.

This page will be updated throughout the 2025/26 season with regular updates on the European Golden Shoe standings.

READ MORE: Champions League 2025/26 Top Scorers

For the time being our table below tracking the European Golden Shoe standings will only list players from the top five European leagues, where the winner is most likely to emerge from.

Players from outside the top-five leagues in Europe are eligible to win the Golden Shoe, but the winner has not come from one of those divisions since 2002, although the chances of a shock triumph should not be completely discounted after Gyokeres' exploits in Portugal last season.

European Golden Shoe Standings

Three of the continent's biggest players are involved in a thrilling battle for the lead in the European golden boot scoring standings, with Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane heading a large group of contenders.

Haaland had moved into a one-goal advantage over Mbappe and Kane when we hit the November international break, with all three attackers having made spectacular starts to the 2025/26 campaign.

Kane then moved level with Haaland at the summit when club football returned, meaning the Bayern striker and the Manchester City star were narrowly ahead of Mbappe.

But Mbappe then scored a penalty in Real Madrid's away draw with Girona, while Kane and Haaland went without a goal in their respective matches on the same weekend.

That meant there was nothing to separate the top three once again as we entered December, but a sensational hat-trick from Kane, who was a substitute, as Bayern stormed to a 5-0 away win over Stuttgart, means he now holds a narrow advantage.

All three players scored again in the most recent weekend of action as a thrilling battle for top spot continues, with just one goal separating them after Haaland's impressive double at Crystal Palace.

The big three are no longer the only players in double figures.

In-form Brentford striker Igor Thiago is now up to 11 goals and posing a threat to Haaland in the Premier League scoring standings, while Ferran Torres has reached the same total in La Liga for Barcelona.

Mason Greenwood has reached 11 goals for Marseille in Ligue 1, with Strasbourg's Joaquin Panichelli also a prominent representative of France's top flight in the chasing pack.

Haaland set a rapid pace early in the season, netting a lethal double in the Manchester derby before striking once more against title rivals Arsenal and then adding braces in three consecutive home matches against Burnley, Everton and Bournemouth.

He also scored a winning goal on the road at Brentford and headed in another goal at home against Liverpool, with his sensational run of recent form only halted in four games, the away defeats at Aston Villa and Newcastle, plus the home wins over Leeds and Sunderland.

Mbappe is involved near the top of the standings despite going without a goal in two recent Real Madrid away draws against Rayo Vallecano and Elche respectively.

His cause was boosted by two particularly good weekends with Real Madrid prior to the Rayo stalemate.

Despite missing a penalty in the same game, Mbappe scored a goal when Madrid defeated rivals Barcelona 2-1 in El Clasico, and then added two more goals in the emphatic 4-0 La Liga victory over Valencia.

That good run for Mbappe was combined with two rare Bundesliga outings without a goal for Kane, one of his closest rivals, although the England international was back on target against Union Berlin and Freiburg in two recent appearances either side of the international break.

Defending champion Mbappe has been fantastic so far this season. He came into the match with Espanyol on a high after also netting twice in the Champions League, as Real Madrid defeated Marseille despite being reduced to 10 men.

And he scored from outside the box against Espanyol as part of a 2-0 win for Los Blancos to make it five LaLiga goals from as many games this season, before netting another double in the 4-1 away victory over Levante, increasing his top-flight total to seven.

One more Mbappe goal arrived even as Real Madrid were hammered by city rivals Atletico Madrid in the derby, with Julian Alvarez striking twice for Atleti.

Mbappe was then on target again as Madrid defeated Villarreal 3-1, with strike partner Vinicius Junior netting a double in that game, and the France star scored the winner at Getafe in the first match after October's international break.

Kane was initially the leader, but as we moved into November rivals Haaland and Mbappe started to edge just ahead of the Bayern star, who had previously raced on to 12 goals his first seven games in a remarkable start, before having those rare two top-flight games without striking. However, his recent return to form means Kane still holds the lead.

Club football is now back at full throttle after the third international break of the 2025/26 campaign.

Already we are seeing plenty of goal action, similar to when there were some electric matches after the previous international pauses.

After impressing for Norway during the September international break, Haaland had a crucial fixture as struggling Man City took on rivals Man Utd, and he helped his side to a 3-0 victory.

Having seen off Napoli in Europe, there was another big clash for Haaland and City away to Arsenal and the striker netted an impressive goal, capping a fine counter-attack.

Mbappe was in action a day earlier than Haaland last weekend, with Real Madrid travelling to play Real Sociedad. As expected it proved to be a tough away fixture, but the striker impressed with a goal and an assist as his side battled to a 2-1 victory, before finding the net again versus Espanyol.

Haaland's derby double meant he was the joint leader along with in-form Bayern attacker Kane going into that weekend. However, the England captain scored a hat-trick which contained two penalties as his side romped to a 4-1 away win over Hoffenheim.

Kane then scored a headed goal in the 2-1 win over rivals Dortmund on October 18 to maintain top spot at that stage.

Robert Lewandowski is up and running after netting twice as Barcelona thrashed Valencia 6-0 on September 14. Raphinha also scored a double in the game, ensuring he moved up to three goals for the league campaign, a total he was joined on by Lewandowski against Real Oviedo on September 25.

Lewandowski added another goal against Real Sociedad before scoring his first hat-trick of the season on November 9 as Barca won 4-2 in a thrilling clash at Celta Vigo.

The veteran was on target again in a thumping 4-0 win for Barca over Athletic Bilbao as the club returned to a revamped Camp Nou stadium.

The Barca attackers were eyeing more goals as they hosted Getafe in September, and Ferran Torres was the man making his mark with a first-half double. He is now up to 11 league goals, having netted against Mallorca on the opening weekend and then adding another strike in a dramatic match two at Levante. He also scored against Elche and got two in that Athletic clash.

Most recently, Ferran scored a hat-trick as part of Barca's sensational 5-3 win at Real Betis on December 6.

We are now several weeks into 2025/26 action in Europe's top five leagues, with the continent's leading teams all having completed their pre-season campaigns and then played between 14 and 17 top-flight matches so far.

Premier League, LaLiga and Ligue 1 action arrived first, with those three competitions all getting started on Friday August 15.

There was one week longer to wait before Serie A and the Bundesliga start, but the kick-off for those two competitions arrived soon after, with Bayern Munich opening the campaign in Germany against RB Leipzig on August 22.

That gave Kane an early chance to make his mark on the continental scoring standings, knowing key rivals like Haaland were already well up and running.

And Kane took full advantage of the opportunity, smashing his eighth Bundesliga hat-trick as Bayern earned a rampant 6-0 win over RB Leipzig. It took him less than a month to add his ninth treble against Hoffenheim, while his 10th has just arrived at Stuttgart. He reached 10 Bundesliga hat-tricks in record speed, taking just 76 games to hit the milestone.

Two more goals against Werder Bremen on September 26 saw Kane become the first player to reach 10 goals this season in Europe's top five leagues. He achieved the feat from just five league matches, and also reached 100 goals for the club, doing so in just 104 appearances.

Haaland was immediately among the early leaders in this season’s scoring standings after scoring twice when Manchester City thumped Wolves 4-0 at Molineux in the Premier League. That performance was an early statement after he was beaten in England's Golden Boot race last season, ending a run of two straight successes.

Mohamed Salah also got off the mark swiftly as he scored a late goal to clinch Liverpool's dramatic 4-2 home win over Bournemouth on the Premier League's opening night. His last-gasp MD4 penalty against Burnley kept him in touch with the early leaders, but a dry run of form after that means he is sitting well off the pace as things stand.

Salah has occasionally threatened a brief revival, netting at Brentford and at home against Aston Villa, aided by a dreadful mistake by goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez. That goal was his 250th in Liverpool colours, but he still has significant ground to make up on his goal rivals.

His team-mate Hugo Ekitike also scored in that opening game with Bournemouth, and he added another strike when Liverpool recorded another thrilling win in their second match, defeating Newcastle 3-2 at St James' Park. He then scored for a third time in the Merseyside derby win over rivals Everton, with Salah having to settle for an assist in that game. Two more goals for Ekitike against both Leeds and Brighton mean he is currently Liverpool's leading scorer in the EPL.

Lamine Yamal was a goalscorer when Barcelona won 3-0 at Mallorca in LaLiga, scoring with a magnificent effort into the top corner, having earlier set up a header for Raphinha.

Yamal later added his second goal of the campaign from the penalty spot against Rayo Vallecano on MD3, but had to wait a while before making it three for the league campaign, a moment which arrived when he struck with a confident finish against Elche on November 2. He followed that up with a goal at Celta Vigo in the game where Lewandowski scored his treble and struck once more against Alaves and Betis respectively.

Viktor Gyokeres started his bid for glory when Arsenal travelled to play Man Utd, but he produced a disappointing debut performance. However, the Gunners were still able to grind out a 1-0 away win.

He then burst into life in the second match, scoring a strong double against Leeds in a 5-0 home victory. Another home goal against Nottingham Forest on MD4 made him the first Arsenal player to score in his first two home EPL matches for the club since Alexandre Lacazette in 2017.

Gyokeres has been quieter since then, but a goal in the away win over Burnley will kickstart a good run of form ahead of the festive period.

Fans of Mbappe had to wait until Tuesday on MD1 before Real Madrid started their campaign, as they faced Osasuna.

The France star was eager to immediately join the standings and he did exactly that by converting a penalty he had won himself early in the second half, as Los Blancos won 1-0 at home.

Mbappe then impressively scored twice in Madrid's second game, a 3-0 away victory against promoted side Real Oviedo.

As of the end of MD1, four Premier League players had already scored two goals, with the only other star outside England's top flight to hit a double on that first weekend being Kamory Doumbia in Brest's dramatic 3-3 draw against Lille in Ligue 1.

But Kane and team-mate Michael Olise both charged into the standings at the start of the second week, and further notable players joined them on two or more goals over the course of that weekend.

Haaland's goal at Brighton on MD3 meant he also moved on to three goals for the campaign and featured in a large leading group.

Serhou Guirassy was also involved towards the top of the early standings after netting a double in Dortmund's 3-0 home win over Union Berlin and then striking again in a 2-0 away triumph at Heidenheim in an impressive start to the campaign.

In a fine run dating back to last season, he had scored in eight consecutive Bundesliga matches until that superb streak finally ended against Wolfsburg.

Unfortunately for Guirassy, that proved to be the start of a four-match run without a league goal, but he did get back on track against Augsburg on October 31.

Who won the European Golden Shoe - Previous Winners

Lionel Messi has won the most European Golden Shoe titles. The Inter Miami forward has triumphed on six occasions.

Messi's last success was in 2018/19 for Barcelona and he did not win the award during either of his two years playing with PSG.

Cristiano Ronaldo is his closest challenger with four career wins, though the Al-Nassr attacker has not come out on top since 2014/15 when he was at Real Madrid, with his second spell at Manchester United not hitting the heights of his first.

Robert Lewandowski’s triumph in 2021/22 means there are 10 players who have two Golden Shoe awards each, a list that also includes Luis Suarez and Thierry Henry.

Messi holds the record for most goals and points in a season as well. He remarkably scored 50 goals in 2011/12, earning himself 100 points.

Ronaldo has come closest to breaking that, scoring 48 goals for 96 Golden Shoe points when he last won the crown in 2014/15.

Argentina forward Messi is the only player in European Golden Shoe history to win the title three years in a row, doing so from 2016/17 until 2018/19. Lewandowski is the last to win it back-to-back.

However, Ronaldo (Man Utd and Real Madrid) does share one key Golden Shoe record. He is one of only four players to have won the title with different clubs, with the others to have achieved that feat being Suarez (Liverpool and Barcelona), Diego Forlan (Villarreal and Atletico Madrid) and Mario Jardel (Porto and Sporting CP).

Lewandowski became the first Bundesliga winner since 1972 with the first of his two triumphs in the 2020/21 season, with his remarkable 41 goals from 29 games for Bayern remaining the best winning goal tally we have seen since 2015.

That memorable campaign came after Ciro Immobile won the 2019/20 European Golden Shoe, scoring 36 goals for Lazio in a tremendous Serie A season.

It was Immobile's only title, with the striker becoming the first Serie A player to score the most goals in Europe since Francesco Totti triumphed for Lazio's rivals Roma in 2006/07.

Ligue 1 has not produced a winner since Josip Skoblar in 1971.

France's top flight might have expected to win multiple Golden Shoe titles in the modern era given the likes of Messi, Mbappe, Neymar and Zlatan Ibrahimovic have played in the league, but the competition looks likely to have to wait a while longer for one of its players to be crowned, particularly with Mbappe now thriving in Spain.

Success for Erling Haaland in 2022/23 gave the Norway star his first European Golden Boot title.

Haaland was the first Premier League winner since Suarez achieved the feat with Liverpool in 2013/14.

Harry Kane dethroned Haaland in 2023/24, meaning a Bayern player has impressively won the award in three of the last five campaigns.

What are the European Golden Shoe rules and weightings?

Only league goals are eligible for points in the European Golden Shoe award.

Each strike earns points in a weighted system depending on the quality of league.

The five elite leagues - Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1 - all carry a weighting of 2, meaning that a player will be awarded two points for every goal they score in these competitions.

For the leagues ranked sixth to 21 in Uefa's coefficients rankings - which includes the top-flights in Portugal and Netherlands - goals scored are given a weighting of 1.5, and goals scored in a league outside the top 21 are given a weighting of 1.

A great example of how important the scoring system can occasionally be came in the 2024/25 season. Viktor Gyokeres scored 39 goals for Sporting CP, but the Golden Shoe winner that year was Kylian Mbappe, who netted 31 goals for Real Madrid, with the France star's strikes given a higher weighting.

Last season was the first time since 2009/10 (Lionel Messi, Barcelona) that the Golden Shoe winner was not also the top scorer in the whole continent. That year Messi netted 34 times and won the Golden Shoe, but Luis Suarez had 35 goals for Ajax in the Netherlands, with those goals receiving a lower weighting.

The current scoring system has not always been in operation for the European Golden Shoe. From 1968 until 1991, the award simply went to the highest goalscorer on the continent, regardless of the strength of league.

Awards were not initially handed out between 1991 until 1996, when the new system came into force. Since then, the changes have heavily favoured star names representing the leading clubs, as only two players playing outside what were the five highest-ranked leagues at the time have ever won the Golden Shoe - Henrik Larsson (2000/01 with Celtic) and Mario Jardel (2001/02 with Sporting CP).

The Golden Shoe has been tied in the past, most recently when Suarez and Ronaldo shared the honour in 2013/14. Going forward, though, the award will be given to the player who has played the fewest minutes if two of them end up on the same number of points.

This page covers the 2025/26 European Golden Shoe race. This link will display all the information for the 2024/25 season, while all the details from the 2023/24 season can be found here.