The European Golden Shoe, also known as the European Golden Boot, is a prestigious award given to the top goalscorer in men’s domestic league football across Europe each season.
Originally called the Soleil d’Or, which is the French word for Golden Boot, the award was introduced in the 1967–68 season. Initially, the winner was simply the player who scored the most goals in a European domestic league, regardless of the relative difficulty of the league.
After the 1990/91 season, the award was discontinued due to growing controversy over fairness, as players from weaker leagues were able to score more goals and win more matches despite facing less competition.
The European Golden Boot returned in the 1996/97 season. The updated version introduced a more balanced points system, taking into account the strengths of each league. To ensure fairness across the various football leagues in Europe, a weighted points system is used.
Each goal is multiplied by a factor based on the UEFA league coefficient ranking: top leagues (e.g. Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1): 2 points per goal, mid-tier leagues (e.g. Portuguese Primeira Liga, Eredivisie): 1.5 points per goal and lower-tier leagues: 1 point per goal.
Lionel Messi has won the most European Golden Boot award 6 times and Cristiano Ronaldo has won the European Golden Shoe Award 4 times.
European Golden Shoe winners from 1967 to 2025
| Year | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1968 | Eusébio (1) | Benfica | 42 |
| 1969 | Petar Zhekov | CSKA Sofia | 36 |
| 1970 | Gerd Müller (1) | Bayern Munich | 38 |
| 1971 | Josip Skoblar | Marseille | 44 |
| 1972 | Gerd Müller (2) | Bayern Munich | 40 |
| 1973 | Eusébio (2) | Benfica | 40 |
| 1974 | Héctor Yazalde | Sporting CP | 46 |
| 1975 | Dudu Georgescu (1) | Dinamo București | 33 |
| 1976 | Sotiris Kaiafas | Omonia Nicosia | 39 |
| 1977 | Dudu Georgescu (2) | Dinamo București | 47 |
| 1978 | Hans Krankl | Rapid Wien | 41 |
| 1979 | Kees Kist | AZ | 34 |
| 1980 | Erwin Vandenbergh | Lierse | 39 |
| 1981 | Georgi Slavkov | Botev Plovdiv | 31 |
| 1982 | Wim Kieft | Ajax | 32 |
| 1983 | Fernando Gomes (1) | Porto | 36 |
| 1984 | Ian Rush | Liverpool | 32 |
| 1985 | Fernando Gomes (2) | Porto | 39 |
| 1986 | Marco van Basten | Ajax | 37 |
| 1987 | Toni Polster | Austria Wien | 39 |
| 1988 | Tanju Çolak | Galatasaray | 39 |
| 1989 | Dorin Mateuț | Dinamo București | 43 |
| 1990 | Hristo Stoichkov | CSKA Sofia | 38 |
| Hugo Sánchez | Real Madrid | 38 | |
| 1991 | Darko Pančev | Red Star Belgrade | 34 |
| 1992 | Ally McCoist (1) | Rangers | 34 |
| 1993 | Ally McCoist (2) | Rangers | 34 |
| 1994 | David Taylor | Porthmadog | 43 |
| 1995 | Arsen Avetisyan | Homenetmen | 39 |
| 1996 | Zviad Endeladze | Margveti | 40 |
| 1997 | Ronaldo | Barcelona | 34 |
| 1998 | Nikos Machlas | Vitesse | 34 |
| 1999 | Mário Jardel (1) | Porto | 36 |
| 2000 | Kevin Phillips | Sunderland | 30 |
| 2001 | Henrik Larsson | Celtic | 35 |
| 2002 | Mário Jardel (2) | Sporting CP | 42 |
| 2003 | Roy Makaay | Deportivo La Coruña | 29 |
| 2004 | Thierry Henry (1) | Arsenal | 30 |
| 2005 | Thierry Henry (2) | Arsenal | 25 |
| Diego Forlán (1) | Villarreal | 25 | |
| 2006 | Luca Toni | Fiorentina | 31 |
| 2007 | Francesco Totti | Roma | 26 |
| 2008 | Cristiano Ronaldo (1) | Manchester United | 31 |
| 2009 | Diego Forlán (2) | Atlético Madrid | 32 |
| 2010 | Lionel Messi (1) | Barcelona | 34 |
| 2011 | Cristiano Ronaldo (2) | Real Madrid | 40 |
| 2012 | Lionel Messi (2) | Barcelona | 50 |
| 2013 | Lionel Messi (3) | Barcelona | 46 |
| 2014 | Luis Suárez (1) | Liverpool | 31 |
| Cristiano Ronaldo (3) | Real Madrid | 31 | |
| 2015 | Cristiano Ronaldo (4) | Real Madrid | 48 |
| 2016 | Luis Suárez (2) | Barcelona | 40 |
| 2017 | Lionel Messi (4) | Barcelona | 37 |
| 2018 | Lionel Messi (5) | Barcelona | 34 |
| 2019 | Lionel Messi (6) | Barcelona | 36 |
| 2020 | Ciro Immobile | Lazio | 36 |
| 2021 | Robert Lewandowski (1) | Bayern Munich | 41 |
| 2022 | Robert Lewandowski (2) | Bayern Munich | 35 |
| 2023 | Erling Haaland | Manchester City | 36 |
| 2024 | Harry Kane | Bayern Munich | 36 |
| 2025 | Kylian Mbappe | Real MAdrid | 31 |
