We may only be roughly at the half way point in the month of October in the 2025/26 football campaign, but the race for the European Golden Shoe award looks like it could be an incredibly tasty, and quite a close, battle this season.
It is not very often that you can apply the phrases 'a striker in form', 'scoring more than a goal a game', in almost every match played, helping his side to a title charge whilst also taking his country to the cusp of the World Cup, but this year those qualifications actually apply to three very well known talents.
Football fans around the globe will therefore not be surprised to read that following names - Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe - are in contention for the Golden Shoe already. For those fans who like their Fantasy Football and have picked even one of these stars for their team, it would be like winning the jackpot at a crypto casino as you game online and add extra spice to your matchday entertainment.
Mbappe has scored 17 goals in 13 matches for his country and Spanish La Liga giants Real Madrid so far this campaign, but at the moment he is actually in third place in the charts. In second place is England international captain Kane. The 32 year old has scored 19 times in just 12 matches for German Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich and his home nation, but 25 year old Haaland even edges him into first place with a return of 21 goals in 12 matches for Premier League side Manchester City and his Norwegian nation.
Whether or not their combined form continues to show a similar consistency as we travel through the remaining months that exist in the current football calendar remains to be seen and will be wildly debated by fans, but despite being so early in the season their form has to be applauded and it seems inevitable right now that the Golden Boot (before someone inexplicably called it a simple Shoe) will end up in the hands of one of these generational goalscoring talents.
A three horse race by the end of the season is not a new phenomenon, but when you consider the nearest chasers right now in league terms are Argentina and Atletico Madrid's Julian Alvarez, and Ghana and AFC Bournemouth winger Antoine Semenyo - who each have only scored six times so far - it puts it into a fair comparison. On a league front Kane is in charge with eleven to his name, and Mbappe and Haaland only on nine, so the battle could well ultimately hinge on who continues to perform better on the international stage.
Well known names like Ousmane Dembele, Alexander Isak and even Robert Lewandowski are currently not even at the races for differing reasons of their own, so whilst the good money says that by the time we cycle around to the month of May the picture will look a hell of a lot different, the safe money would certainly continue to remain on one of these three given the start that they have had and the advantage that they have already established.
Whatever ultimately happens, it should continue to make for great viewing of fans and neutrals alike as the 'beautiful game' is all about goals and these guys have that talent in abundance.
