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The European Golden Boot award, also known as the European Golden Shoe award, is awarded to the top goalscorer in a European top-flight season. First conceptualized in 1968, the award was presented by L'Equipe for three decades.
Since 1997, European Sports Media has presented the award after taking into consideration the 'competitiveness' of the league in which a player plays. The top six leagues have a coefficient of 2; the next 17 leagues have a coefficient of 1.5, and the remaining leagues have a coefficient of 1.
These coefficients are multiplied by the goals scored by a player to arrive at his final tally in the Golden Boot standings. Thanks to the introduction of the coefficients, a player plying his trade in one of the tougher leagues can win the award by scoring fewer goals than a player in one of the easier leagues. That makes sense, owing to the varying difficulty levels of various leagues across the continent.
Over the years, many fine players have won the European Golden Boot award. Last season, Robert Lewandowski scored 41 goals, the most by any player in a Bundesliga season, to take home his first Golden Boot award.
But there have been others who have won the prestigious award more than once. On that note, let's take a look at the top five multiple winners of the Golden Boot award:
#5 Gerd Muller - 2 (1969-70, 1971-72)
Nicknamed 'Der Bomber' for his prolific goalscoring exploits, Gerd Muller (365) is the all-time top scorer in Bundesliga history; nobody else has scored more than 277.
Muller bagged his first Golden Shoe award after netting 38 goals in 33 games. Two years later, he won his second Golden Shoe award by bettering his goal tally by two goals. That was a record that stood for almost five decades before Robert Lewandowski (41) surpassed Muller's tally in 2020-21.
Since Muller's 40-goal season, only two players have recorded 30-goal Bundesliga campaigns. Lewandowski has done it thrice (30 in both 2015-16 and 2016-17, 34 in 2019-20) before overtaking Muller in 2020-21. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (31 in 2016-17) is the other player to have done so.
#4 Thierry Henry - 2 (2003-04, 2004-05)
Thierry Henry is one of the best strikers to have graced the Premier League. With 175 goals, the Frenchman is the sixth-most prolific scorer in the history of the competition.
After his arrival at Premier League club Arsenal in the summer of 1999, Henry hit the ground running, scoring at least 17 league goals in each of his first seven seasons at the club.
Henry scored 30 goals in Arsenal's 2003-04 'Invincibles' season, where the Gunners went without a league defeat all campaign, to win his first Golden Boot award. The very next year, the Frenchman scored 24 goals to bag his second Golden Boot award, this time sharing it with Diego Forlan of Villarreal.
In addition to his goalscoring prowess, Henry also created goals aplenty for teammates. A season before winning his first Golden Boot award, the Frenchman registered 24 goals and 20 assists, the highest goal contribution by a player in a single Premier League season.
After his Arsenal stint, Henry played for Barcelona and went to the MLS before retiring from the game in 2014.
#3 Luis Suarez - 2 (2013-14, 2015-16)
Luis Suarez, one of the best strikers of the current generation, is a two-time Golden Boot winner.
In 2013-14, the then Liverpool striker scored 31 goals to jointly win the Golden Boot award with Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored as many for Real Madrid in La Liga. Despite Suarez's exploits, Liverpool suffered a spectacular implosion when they had the title race under control.
After moving to Barcelona, Suarez outscored Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in 2015-16, netting 40 goals to win his second Golden Boot award. That made Suarez only the third player, Ronaldo and Messi being the others, to score 40 goals in a La Liga season.
Last summer, the Uruguayan left Camp Nou to join Atletico Madrid, where he won the 2020-21 La Liga title.
#2 Cristiano Ronaldo - 4 (2007-08, 2010-11, 2013-14, 2014-15)
Cristiano Ronaldo, arguably one of the best players to have graced the game, has been a prolific goalscorer for club and country. He is one of only two players to win more than two Golden Boot awards.
Ronaldo won his first Golden Boot award in 2007-08, scoring 31 goals to help Manchester United win the Premier League title. Three years later, Ronaldo became the first player to breach the 40-goal mark in a La Liga season, which helped him win his second Golden Boot award.
The Portuguese had to wait another three years to win his next Golden Boot award, this time scoring 31 goals to win the award jointly with then Liverpool forward Luis Suarez. A year later, Ronaldo plundered 48 goals to become the first four-time winner of the Golden Boot award.
Now at Juventus, Ronaldo is still going strong but hasn't come close enough to win another Golden Boot award.
#1 Lionel Messi - 6 (2009-10, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19)
Lionel Messi has scored goals and won trophies galore during an illustrious career for club and country.
The 34-year-old, who is currently a free agent after his Barcelona contract expired this summer, is a record six-time winner of the Golden Boot award. Messi is also the only player to win it in three consecutive years.
Messi won his first Golden Boot award in 2009-10, scoring 34 goals. Two years later, the Argentinian produced a stunning 50-goal season to land his second Golden Boot award. A third followed soon, as Messi scored 46 times in the next campaign.
In 2016-17, Messi scored 37 goals to draw level with Ronaldo for most Golden Boot awards before overtaking him a season later by netting 34 times. In 2018-19, Messi completed an unprecedented three-peat of the Golden Boot after scoring 36 goals.
The same year, Messi went on to become the first player to win six Ballon d'Or awards.
