The European Golden Shoe is given to Europe’s ultimate goalscorer. At the end of the 2024/25 campaign, Kylian Mbappe won the award after a terrific season at Real Madrid, scoring 31 goals in just 34 La Liga games.

The last person to win the European Golden Shoe whilst playing outside the top five leagues – which are currently England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France – was Mario Jardel, plying his trade for Porto during the 2001/02 season. This means that the best players in the world have typically won the award, and some of the game’s best strikers right now, like Erling Haaland and Harry Kane are in contention. That’s not to mention the fact Mbappe is looking to retain the award either.

Now that the 2025/2026 season is well underway, the fight for the European Golden Shoe is getting interesting, so find out below who are the current favourites to win it.

How is The European Golden Shoe Award Calculated

To win the European Golden Shoe, it’s not simply a case of scoring the most goals in your respective league. Instead, UEFA has devised a system that takes into account the difficulty of the nation that you’re playing in and how competitive it is. As a result, there are three tiers of multipliers:

• Goals scored in the top five leagues according to UEFA’s coefficient lists are multiplied by two
• Goals scored in the leagues ranked six to 22 are multiplied by 1.5
• Goals scored in leagues ranked 22 and below are multiplied by 1

It all means that those players who perform well in the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 have their goals count for double that of a player who is involved in a league ranked 22 or lower.

10

Pall Klettskard

KI Klaksvik

Now in his third spell at one of Faroe Island’s most successful clubs, KI Klaksvik, striker Pall Klettskard is enjoying a remarkable campaign at the age of 35. He has scored 21 goals in just 23 games in the league alone, firing KI to the top of the table and keeping them unbeaten. Klettskard’s 2025 league campaign started way back in March, and he has simply gone from strength to strength since then despite his age.

He scored a superb hat-trick in the 10-0 demolition job of TB Tvoroyri, and then grabbed another three while wearing the armband in KI’s dominant 6-2 victory against EB/Streymur back in mid-September.

9

Erling Haaland

Manchester City

The most in-form striker in the world right now, Erling Haaland has netted in 12 consecutive games for club and country, making it one of the longest goal-scoring streaks in football history. The Norwegian has been in exceptional form for Manchester City in particular, and seems to be running away with the Premier League’s Golden Boot award this season.

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As well as netting a brace against neighbours Manchester United, Haaland showed all his strength and pace when he scored against Arsenal in a titanic clash at the top of the table. Given that the Premier League is among UEFA’s top five leagues, and goals are worth double, Haaland will surely climb up these rankings sooner rather than later.

8

Ibrahim Diabate

GAIS

Formerly at Mallorca, Ibrahim Diabate is finally enjoying the best time of his footballing career thus far. The 25-year-old joined Swedish club GAIS in the 2025 January transfer window, and has been in imperious form in the club’s Allsvenskan campaign. 15 goals and four assists in just 26 league games have fired GAIS into the top three, while he enjoyed a really fruitful spell between May and July.

In just nine games during that time, Diabate scored 11 goals, including netting a hat-trick against Halmstads, and scoring twice against Hammarby, who currently occupy second place. But with games running now out, the chances of Diabate making his way up the ranking appears a bit more slim.

7

August Priske

Djurgardens

The son of former Portsmouth defender and Denmark international, Brian Priske, August is showcasing all of his potential while at Swedish club Djurgardens. The centre-forward signed for the club in the summer of 2024, agreeing a four-year deal, but it has been in this 2025 campaign where he has really put down a marker.

The Denmark U20 international has bagged 15 goals in 24 league games, and since the end of August, has firmly established himself as a trusted starter for Djurgardens. The 21-year-old has been on fire recently too, netting eight goals in just seven top-flight fixtures, including grabbing a hat-trick against Sirius in a thumping 8-2 win.

6

Nahir Besara

Hammarby

Another star of the Swedish top-flight this season, Nahir Besara has fired Hammarby to second-place in the league. His 16 goals in 27 games have come despite him playing as an attacking midfielder rather than as a number nine like many of the other players on this list.

The Hammarby captain has long been one of the club’s main attacking threats, and has proven his credentials as a goal-scorer for a while now, scoring 71 goals in just total 216 games for the Swedish outfit.

While he only has one international cap to his name, Besara will be desperately hoping to make the Sweden squad once again given his excellent form this season.

5

Daniel Karlsbakk

Sarpsborg

Standing at 6 foot 5 and an alumni of Norwegian club Bryne’s youth academy, the comparisons between Daniel Karlsbakk and Erling Haaland are understandable, and something the former has even spoken about himself previously. Now playing for Sarpsborg in Norway’s top-flight, the 22-year-old is finally becoming the kind of battering ram striker that Haaland would be proud of himself.

A return of 16 goals in just 24 league games have attributed to almost half of Sarpsborg’s total goals, and despite the club’s middling campaign, has been one of their bright sparks. A hat-trick against Haugesund was his best moment in a Sarpsborg shirt, and he will be hoping to add to his tally before the season is over.

4

Harry Kane

Bayern Munich

Out of everyone in the race for the Golden Shoe, Harry Kane leads the way in terms of playing in a top five European league, shining for Bayern Munich in this 2025/2026 season. The England international has been firing on all cylinders for the Bundesliga giants, scoring a remarkable 12 goals in just seven top-flight fixtures.

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Kane’s exploits have seen him bag two Bundesliga hat-tricks already, doing so against RB Leipzig and Hoffenheim respectively, while he also netted in the 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund. Such was Kane’s performance in that game against Bayern’s rivals, that many observers considered it one of his best ever displays.

3

Darko Lemajic

FC RFS

Currently in third place for the European Golden Shoe, Darko Lemajic has enjoyed a superb campaign at Latvian club FC RFS. The 6 foot 6 centre-forward is an aerial threat, unsurprisingly, and has been in blistering form in the league, helping himself to a whopping 25 goals in just 28 games.

Lemajic’s season has also included two hat-tricks, and his goals have been a major reason as to why RFS find themselves comfortably in second-place in the Latvian top-flight. The striker’s chances of winning the Golden Shoe, however, probably take a hit given that the league he is playing in is ranked outside UEFA’s top 22.

2

Kasper Hogh

Bodo/Glimt

The striking superstar of Bodo/Glimt, Kasper Hogh has come into his own at the club since joining from Stabaek on a pre-contract deal. His performances in the 2024 season in the Norwegian top-division saw him net 12 times in just 23 league games, but he has arguably stepped it up even further this campaign.

The former Denmark U19 international has fired in 17 goals in 23 top-flight matches thus far, with Bodo neck-and-neck with Viking in the race for the title. Another league triumph would make it a hat-trick for the club, and you would suspect Hogh’s goals before the end of the season will play a major role in deciding whether that will be the case or not.

1

Klaemint Olsen

NSI Runavik

The man leading the race for the European Golden Shoe, is Klaemint Olsen, who is a certified legend in Faroese football. Having spent his entire playing career at hometown club NSI Runavik, the 35-year-old striker has bagged well over 250 goals for the club in over 400 appearances. But arguably his best campaign, has come this season.

In just 26 league games, Olsen has scored 26 times, thus averaging a goal a game. The centre-forward, who is also the club’s captain, has reserved some special performances over the past couple of months in particular, netting 12 goals in 12 games, including a hat-trick in a 4-0 win over EB/Streymur. Much like Darko Lemajic however, Olsen’s goals don’t get any coefficient multiplier given that the Faroe Islands’ main domestic league is ranked outside UEFA’s top 22.

Stats via Transfermarkt (Correct as of 23/10/2025)