'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
One of the most hotly contested individual honours over the course of the season is the European Golden Shoe, which rewards the best goal scorer on the continent.
Any top-flight professional footballer in any league can win the prize, though each league is weighted. In the best leagues – Spain, Germany, England, Italy and France – each strike is worth two points, in intermediate leagues 1.5 points and in the smallest leagues only a single point.
In practice, it will be a stellar name who wins the gong, which was claimed by Lionel Messi last season after he netted 37 times, accumulating a total of 74 points.
Here are the five leading contenders to win the prize this time around:
#5 Edinson Cavani
Although Edinson Cavani finished a distant ninth in the standings last season, the Uruguay international has to be considered among the front runners to lift the trophy this season – if not the favourite.
The reason has nothing to do with Neymar’s arrival at Paris Saint-Germain, which may take some of the goalscoring edge off his game, but that fact that France’s move up the UEFA coefficient list means that each of his goals is now worth 2 points as opposed to the 1.5 he got last season.
If that had been the case last season, he would have finished second behind Lionel Messi by only four points – a gap the 30-year-old will feel he should be able to close given his club’s lavish summer investment, which may continue in the next three weeks.
PSG are set to be more attacking than ever – and that can only be of benefit to their prolific centre forward, who is coming off his best season ever.
#4 Harry Kane
The Premier League’s top marksman in each of the last two seasons, Kane has shown unremitting excellence in front of goal. He mustered 29 strikes in England’s top flight last season, which was a tally all the more remarkable given that he missed eight matches due to injury.
If he can keep himself fit, there appears to be little reason why he cannot maintain a goals-per-game ratio that is virtually one.
There are, however, fears that Spurs’ failure to invest in the transfer market, plus their season-long move to Wembley could break the momentum that has seen them established as such a force in the Premier League, finishing as runners up to Chelsea last term.
#3 Robert Lewandowski
Poland international striker Robert Lewandowski was furious that his Bayern Munich side did not do more for him last season to finish above Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the Bundesliga scoring charts. Nevertheless, he netted 30 times for the Bavarian giants, who will, no doubt, be German champions come the end of the season.
Such dominance for his club means that it is the 28-year-old centre forward who is a more sure fire bet of being the Bundesliga’s greatest challenger for European Golden Shoe honours.
He has scored 30 goals in each of the last two seasons and at least 20 in five of the last six.
Lewandowski, though, is handicapped by the fact that the German league only consists of 34 rounds, meaning he has to accrue more goals than anyone else in four fewer matches – probably enough to count decisively against him in such a competitive race.
#2 Lionel Messi
Last season, the Barcelona maestro ended up running away with the Golden Shoe, scoring 37 goals in La Liga and accumulating six points more than second placed Bas Dost, whose challenge this season will be crippled by his goals now being worth only 1.5 points due to the Portuguese league’s fall in the UEFA Coefficient.
It may have been a tricky season for Barca, who saw Real Madrid win La Liga, yet the Argentine still produced more than a goal per game.
Having turned 30, can the Argentine maintain his incredible pace without Neymar alongside him? It is a question that every Barcelona fan will expect the superstar to answer in the affirmative.
There is little doubt that this is a complicated moment for the Blaugrana, who need Messi at his best more than ever.
#1 Cristiano Ronaldo
Surprisingly, Ronaldo was nowhere to be seen in the top 10 last season, having endured, by his immaculate standards, a relatively poor domestic campaign in front of goal. He will feel he made up for this with success in the Champions League, but seeing great rival Lionel Messi scoop the honour will have stung.
His future apparently committed to Real Madrid after some doubts earlier in the summer, it would be a big shock if he failed to better his 25-goal league haul from last term.
A curtailed pre-season and yet another summer playing tournament football complicate matters for the Ballon d’Or winner, but when there are doubts he always seems to respond to the challenge.
