European Golden Boot Race: Top Scorers, Standings

The European Golden Boot is up for grabs again in 2025–26, as the continent’s most efficient finishers vie to claim the prize after Kylian Mbappé’s success last season.

The prize is awarded to the highest scorer across all domestic leagues in Europe, with the system in place operating favourably for those competing in the premier divisions. There hasn’t been a European Golden Boot victor from outside of Europe’s top-five leagues since Sporting CP’s Mário Jardel triumphed for a second time in 2001–02.

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, of course, enjoyed their fair share of the award while they were wreaking havoc, but, similar to the Ballon d’Or, their respective departures from the European scene have allowed alternative sharpshooters to emerge regarding the collection of this prize. Luis Suárez and Robert Lewandowski are both multi-time winners since 2013.

It’ll likely be an all too familiar face topping the charts this time around, despite the fact there have been three different winners in the three previous seasons.

Here's everything you need to know about the 2025–26 European Golden Boot race.

How is the European Golden Boot Award Decided?

The European Golden Boot has been awarded on a weighted-points-based system since 1997, with goals scored in one of Europe’s top-five leagues—Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1—counting for double.

Goals from players in leagues ranked sixth to 22nd in UEFA's coefficient, such as the Dutch Eredivisie and Portugal’s Primeira Liga, are worth 1.5 points. Goals from the remaining players competing in the remaining European leagues are worth one point.

The player with the most points at the end of the season wins the award.

10. Ayase Ueda (Feyenoord)

Goals: 18
Coefficient: 1.5
Points: 27

Ayase Ueda had 12 Eredivisie goals to his name across two seasons heading into the 2024–25 campaign. The Japanese international has already doubled that tally (and some) in his third season with Feyenoord.

Ueda has been in remarkable form, with his four-goal haul against PEC Zwolle at the start of December taking his league tally up to 18. That was his second hat-trick of the season, having also scored three times within 45 minutes away at Heracles in October.

9. Lautaro Martínez (Inter)

Inter striker Lautaro Martínez — A clinical forward. | Mairo Cinquetti/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Goals: 14
Coefficient: 2
Points: 28

Unsurprisingly, Lautaro Martínez has once again been leading Inter’s charge towards the Serie A title. The Argentine endured a tame league campaign by his standards in 2024–25 but has already bettered a modest 12-goal haul, with plenty of time to add to his tally.

The 2023–24 Capocannoniere winner is on course for a second award as his steady stream of strikes inspires the Nerazzurri to further glory, this time under new management—Cristian Chivu homing in on his first piece of silverware.

8. Darko Lemajić (RFS)

🇷🇸📊 Darko Lemajić has become the FIRST EVER player in RFS history to score 30+ goals in a single season.

Virslīga - 28 goals ⚽️
UCL qualifiers - 1 goal ⚽️
UECL qualifiers - 1 goal ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/aSt8daZEYV
— RFS Central (@RFSCentral) November 3, 2025

Goals: 28
Coefficient: 1
Points: 28

The Serbian striker made club history in 2025, as he became their first-ever player to score 30 goals in a single season for Latvian club RFS, who finished second in the league despite Lemajić’s stellar form.

28 came in league action, as the 32-year-old enjoyed the most prolific season of his career.

7. Luis Suárez (Sporting CP)

Goals: 19
Coefficient: 1.5
Points: 28.5

A new Luis Suárez is terrorising European defences on a weekly basis these days, with Sporting CP’s star forward enjoying an extraordinary debut campaign with the Lisbon giants.

The 28-year-old had been prolific in several Spanish stints and has crossed the border to Portugal with little fuss. He’s easily surpassed his best scoring season in a top-flight league.

6. Vangelis Pavlidis (Benfica)

Goals: 19
Coefficient: 1.5
Points: 28.5

Viktor Gyökeres stole the show in Portugal last season, with Vangelis Pavlidis’ 19-goal Primeira Liga haul overshadowed by the Swede’s remarkable scoring form for Sporting CP.

And despite stiff competition arriving from Gyökeres’ successor, Suárez, Pavlidis currently tops the Portuguese scoring charts.

The experienced Greek forward has already matched his tally of league goals from last season, and has a chance of topping the most prolific campaign of his senior career, which came with AZ Alkmaar in 2023–24 (29 Eredivisie goals).

5. Vedat Muriqi (Mallorca)

Goals: 15
Coefficient: 2
Points: 30

Vedat Muriqi has been a steady scorer for Mallorca since joining from Lazio in 2021, and at 31, he’s on track for his best-ever La Liga season.

His 15 goals—including a treble in Mallorca’s recent 3–2 win over Athletic Bilbao—means he has now equalled his goal tally from 2022–23, with just under half the season still remaining.

4. Igor Thiago (Brentford)

Goals: 17
Coefficient: 2
Points: 34

Igor Thiago was brutally halted by injuries in his first season with Brentford but has made up for lost time this season. The Brazilian has been a relentless poacher for the Bees, shouldering the goalscoring burden following summer exits for Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa.

Thiago has excellent penalty box instincts but also boasts the power to cause mayhem for opposition centre backs. This is no flash in the pan, the Brentford star is just an excellent centre forward.

3. Erling Haaland (Man City)

Goals: 22
Coefficient: 2
Points: 44

Erling Haaland was an imperious victor of this award in 2022–23 and he could easily triumph again in 2025–26.

Manchester City have been reliant on the freakish scoring gifts of their Nordic robot this season, with Haaland functioning like a man possessed after a disappointing 2024–25 campaign was further inhibited by an injury late on.

Haaland can enter a deadly scoring spree without any warning.

2. Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid)

Goals: 23
Coefficient: 2
Points: 46

La Liga’s Pichichi Trophy holder ended the 2024–25 league season with 31 league goals, and 62 points were enough for Kylian Mbappé to claim his first European Golden Shoe with the lowest haul since Luis Suárez and Cristiano Ronaldo won with 62 in 2013–14.

Real Madrid is very much Mbappé’s team, and he’s a contender to become the first player to win this award back-to-back since Robert Lewandowski in 2022.

Only Lewandowski, Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Thierry Henry have triumphed in successive seasons since the award’s inception.

1. Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)

Goals: 24
Coefficient: 2
Points: 48

While collective success eluded Harry Kane before winning the 2024–25 Bundesliga, the English striker has never been shy of individual honours.

Kane claimed the European Golden Boot during his first season with Bayern Munich, and he came within touching distance of Robert Lewandowski’s single-season Bundesliga scoring record.

The striker has another shot at usurping the Pole’s haul of 41 in 2025–26, with Kane leading the charge for Vincent Kompany’s high-flyers.

Ranking as per Transfermarkt.com

Last 5 European Golden Boot Winners

Season	Winner	Team	Goals
2024–25	Kylian Mbappé	Real Madrid	31
2023–24	Harry Kane	Bayern Munich	36
2022–23	Erling Haaland	Manchester City	36
2021–22	Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich	35
2020–21	Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich	41

European Golden Boot History

Lionel Messi is a record six-time winner. | LLUIS GENE/AFP/Getty Images

The European Golden Boot was first handed out by French newspaper L’Equipe in 1967–68, with Portuguese icon Eusébio claiming the first award with 42 goals.

While L’Equipe were in charge, winners surfaced from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Romania, Austria and Yugoslavia’s top flights, but the award, much like the sport as a whole, has become much more hegemonic since it was rebooted by the European Sports Media in 1997.

Since then, all but four of the Golden Boot victors have played in Europe’s top-five leagues. The only outliers have been Vitesse’s Nikos Machlas, Celtic’s Henrik Larsson and Mário Jardel, who prevailed while representing Benfica and Sporting CP.

No player has topped Europe’s scoring charts more than Lionel Messi, who won six times during his all-conquering spell with Barcelona. His great contemporary rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, is a four-time winner, which make up half of Portugal’s record eight wins.

Interestingly, the Netherlands have produced the most European Golden Boot winners (four), but only one this century: Roy Makaay in 2002–03, as he scored 29 goals for Deportivo La Coruña in La Liga. Before him, Kees Kist, Wim Kieft and three-time Ballon d’Or winner Marco van Basten also triumphed.