Kylian Mbappé Receives European Golden Shoe as Darko Lemajic Emerges as Surprise Contender

Last week, Kylian Mbappé proudly received the European Golden Shoe award, which he had originally won months earlier by being the top goal scorer in Europe’s premier leagues during the 2024-25 season.

Although he officially claimed the trophy in May, the French striker was belatedly honored before Real Madrid’s LaLiga match against Valencia last weekend.

Mbappé netted an impressive 31 league goals in the last campaign, adding his name to an illustrious list of previous European Golden Shoe winners. He is now only the third Real Madrid player to earn this prestigious accolade, following in the footsteps of club legends Hugo Sánchez and Cristiano Ronaldo, who won the award three times as a Madrid player and once during his time at Manchester United.

The Golden Shoe has seen numerous elite goal scorers triumph since its inception in the 1967-68 season, with luminaries such as Eusébio, Gerd Müller, Marco van Basten, Hristo Stoichkov, Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, Robert Lewandowski, and Harry Kane, who clinched the award in 2023-24.

Interestingly, the current race for the 2025-26 award is led not by well-known stars like Erling Haaland or Mbappé, but by a relatively obscure striker named Darko Lemajic, who plays for Rigas Futbola Skola (RFS) in Latvia. The 32-year-old is ahead in the competition, boasting 28 goals. However, the Latvian Virsliga operates on a summer schedule, running from March to November, allowing Lemajic to accumulate his goals over 36 matches, while Haaland and Mbappé are just starting their domestic campaigns.

It’s crucial to consider how the European Golden Shoe standings are calculated. Since 1997, a weighted points system has been in place, where goals scored in leagues with a higher UEFA coefficient are assigned more value. Goals in the top five leagues are multiplied by two, while those in leagues ranked 6-22 receive a 1.5 multiplier, and lower leagues score with a factor of one.

Consequently, Lemajic’s 28 goals are worth 28 points in the standings, while Haaland and Mbappé, each with 13 goals, have accumulated 26 points due to the higher multiplier for their respective leagues. Thus, despite scoring fewer goals, they trail Lemajic by just two points.

This scoring system also explains the presence of several Scandinavian players in the top rankings, as many of their leagues follow summer schedules and have concluded their seasons.

With Lemajic’s league season now finished, his competitors will have the opportunity to bridge the gap in the upcoming months.

As it stands, Harry Kane is continuing his remarkable form from the previous season with 12 league goals in just nine Bundesliga matches, positioning himself to rise in the 2025-26 European Golden Shoe rankings. If the England captain maintains his prolific scoring rate, he could very well reclaim the award from Mbappé by season’s end.

In the Swedish Allsvenskan, Hammarby finds itself second with one matchday remaining, and Besara is among three players tied at the top of the league’s scoring charts. However, his contributions have not been sufficient to prevent Hammarby from finishing behind the underdog Mjällby AIF, who sensationally clinched the 2025 title.

The second player vying for the Allsvenskan Golden Boot is Diabate, who has netted 17 goals for GAIS, while the third contender is Denmark U20 international Priske, also with 17 goals for Djurgården.

In the Norwegian Eliteserien, Høgh is tied for top scorer, as his Bodo/Glimt team trails the leaders, Viking FK, with few matches remaining. Meanwhile, Karlsbakk is level with Høgh in the scoring race, although Sarpsborg has had a lackluster season, languishing in ninth place.

In the Faroe Islands Premier League, Runavik finished third, but their star striker Olsen outshone KI Klaksvik’s Pall Klettskard to top the scoring charts.

With just 11 games played this season, Mbappé is taking his defense of the European Golden Shoe seriously. The 26-year-old is already six goals ahead of his nearest rival in LaLiga, having scored in each of his last eight league appearances for Los Blancos.

Haaland is also making a significant impact this season, having scored 11 goals in 13 league matches for Manchester City. He is on the verge of breaking Alan Shearer’s long-standing record to become the fastest player to reach 100 Premier League goals.

Standing at 6-foot-6, Lemajic is a formidable presence in the Latvian top flight. The Serbian is in his second stint with Rigas Futbola Skola after playing in Belgium with KAA Gent. His exceptional performance saw him finish the season with double the number of goals compared to the next leading scorer, Ingars Pulis of FK Tukums 2000, who netted 16 goals.