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The European Golden Shoe is an award given out to the top scorer in European leagues since 1967/1968. The award is handed out by European Sports media.
Coefficients are given out to leagues based on their UEFA ranking. Hence, fewer goals scored in a tougher league are ranked higher than more goals in a weaker league.
The goals are multiplied by a factor of 2 in the leagues ranked one to five(La liga - Ligue One), while leagues ranked six to twenty one are multiplied by a factor of 1.5 and leagues ranked twenty two and below are multiplied by one.
The award has been won by some of the most legendary players of the past such as Eusebio, Gerd Muller and Marco Van Basten, as well as modern icons like Thierry Henry, Francesco Totti, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi who is also the current holder of the award, after winning it for a record fifth time at the end of the just concluded season.
As we approach the midpoint of the European football season, we present the top ten contenders for the European Golden Shoe.
SEVEN GOALS
League– Italian Serie A
League coefficient (x2)
Contender
Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus) (14 points)
Cristiano Ronaldo is the sole representative from the Serie A, and has taken the league by storm following his summer blockbuster move from Real Madrid.
He has scored seven goals in just 10 league matches, including a match winning brace in Juventus' last match against Empoli. The 33-year-old would be looking to add to his impressive tally of four European Golden Boots.
League – English Premier League
League coefficient (x2)
Contenders
Eden Hazard (Chelsea) 14 points
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal) 14 points
The Premier League is also ably represented by two of the best forwards in the world in Aubameyang and Eden Hazard.
The Gabonese international is Arsenal's record signing following his January transfer from Dortmund, and since then, he has taken to the Emirates like a Fish to water, scoring 19 goals from just 26 appearances in all competitions. In the case of Hazard, the 28-year-old is in the best form of his life.
He guided Belgium to her best ever finish at the World Cup, and was awarded the Silver Ball for his performances, while Mauricio Sarri's methods have helped bring out the goalscoring best in him.
League – German Bundesliga
League coefficient (x2)
Contenders
Luka Jovic (Frankfurt) 14 points
Paco Alcacer (Dortmund) 14 points
Paco Alcacer has been one of the revelations of the season at Dortmund following his loan transfer from Barcelona. The 25-year-old has scored 7 goals this season in just 126 minutes played at an astonishing ratio of 18 mins per goal, while Luka Jovic has also been impressive for Frankfurt, and his goals are a key factor behind his club's 8th place standing in the Bundesliga.
League – Spanish La Liga
League coefficient (x2)
Contenders
Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 14points
Luis Suarez (Barcelona) 14 points
Andre Silva (Sevilla) 14 points
Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Andre Silva are all flying the flag of La Liga in the race for the European Golden Shoe with seven goals apiece.
The Barcelona superstars are each former recipients of the award, while Andre Silva has found a new lease of life following his loan move to Sevilla from AC Milan.
League – French Ligue 1
League coefficient (x2)
Contenders
Nicolas Pepe (Lille) 14 points
Florian Thauvin (Lyon) 14 points
Jonathan Bamba (Lille) 14 points
Francois Kamano (Bordeaux) 14 points
The French Ligue 1 is also represented by four players who have all scored seven goals each.
EIGHT GOALS
League – French League One
League coefficient (x2)
Contenders
Neymar (PSG) 16 points
Emiliano Sala (Nantes) 16 points
We have two French League forwards on eight goals in the race for the European Golden Boot. First off is Neymar, and the Brazilian superstar needs no introduction anywhere in the world, as the 26-year-old is one of the most popular and marketable footballers.
He is currently the most expensive player of all time, following his record breaking transfer from Barcelona to the French capital last year, and even though he has yet to make the impact sought in the Champions League, Neymar is ensuring PSG continues her supreme dominance domestically.
Emiliano Sala is a 28-year-old Argentine forward who has played for Nantes since his 2015 transfer from Bordeaux. He has been in red hot form this season, and earlier on in the campaign became the first Nantes player to score a hat-trick in Ligue 1 in over a decade when he grabbed three against Toulouse in October.
League – Spanish La Liga
League coefficient (x2)
Contenders
Christhian Stuani (Girona) 16 points
Iago Aspas (Celta Vigo) 16 points
La Liga is represented by two players on eight goals each. First off is 31-year-old Spanish international Iago Aspas who has been central to everything Celta Vigo has achieved.
He is a man reborn following an ill-fated transfer to Liverpool which lasted just one season, and has been doing what he knows how to do best - score goals for his boyhood club.
Christhian Stuani is a 32-year-old Uruguayan striker who has been something of a journeyman throughout his career, turning out for nine clubs since he made his professional debut in 2004.
He joined Girona in 2017 in the club's maiden appearance in La Liga, and scored the club's first ever La Liga goals when he bagged a brace in the 2-2 draw with Atletico Madrid.
He ended his debut season at Girona with an impressive 19 goals from 30 matches, and has continued with his fine form this season with eight from ten appearances.
NINE GOALS
League – Italian Serie A
League coefficient (x2)
Contender
Krzysztof Piatek (Genoa) 18 points
Perhaps the biggest revelation of the season in all of Europe. Piatek is a 23-year-old Polish international, who had spent all of his previous professional career in the Polish leagues.
After scoring 21 goals during the 2017/2018 Estraklassa in Poland which saw him finish as the third highest goalscorer in the Polish top division, Genoa paid €4 million for his services to Cracovia at the start of June.
Owing to his relatively obscure past, not much was expected from Piatek on his arrival in Serie A, but he has absolutely shocked everyone with his performances thus far, and currently sits atop the Serie A scorers chart with nine goals, higher than established superstars such as Mauro Icardi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Eden Dzeko.
He has scored almost half of Genoa's goals in Serie A this season, and if the club is to challenge for a top half finish, Piatek's goals would be crucial to that.
TEN GOALS
League – French Ligue One
League coefficient (x2)
Contender
Kylian Mbappe (PSG) 20 points
The bona-fide next global superstar in world football, Kylian Mbappe has had such a spectacular career in just three years of being a professional footballer that most players can only dream of at the end of their careers.
He is the second most expensive player of all time, has won and scored in a World Cup final, nominated for the Ballon d'Or, has made it into the final eleven of the FIFPro World XI, is leading the race for the 2019 European Golden Boot, and is one of the players on whose shoulders lofty expectations are placed for both club and country. All this before he has even turned twenty.
Mbappe at 19 has the world at his feet, and has come a long way from the little boy who was terrorizing defences with Monaco in the Champions League just two seasons ago, and if he is to continue in this trajectory, there is no doubt that he would go on to have one of the greatest footballing careers of all time.
