KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTS: Molde’s Ohi Omoijuanfo leads the ESM Golden Shoe awarded to European league football’s leading marksman as the new year begins.

The Norwegian should enjoy the limelight while he can. It will not last long as the star marksmen of the major leagues catch up and then overtake.

One man whose prospects are fading is Liverpool’s Mo Salah who is joint fifth with 16 goals but who is now off the African Cup of Nations where his goals, however many he scores, will not count for the European prize.

Robert Lewandowski won the prize last season with German champions Bayern Munich when the Pole, hailed as FIFA world player of the year, totalled 41 goals in the Bundesliga to finish 11 clear of Barcelona’s Leo Messi and 12 ahead of third-placed Cristiano Ronaldo of Juventus.

Lewandowski was only the third player since 2010 to interrupt Messi and Ronaldo’s command of the award after Barcelona’s Luis Suarez in 2016 and Lazio’s Ciro Immobile last season.

Thus marksmen from among the top five nations benefit from a multiple of 2.0, the next batch (places six to 22 ) a factor of 1.5 and the remainder 1.0.

This means Lewandowski is already only two goals off the lead.

Scandinavian leagues which traditionally play to a calendar-year schedule always provide the initial leaders before being overtaken in due course by the superstars of western Europe.

As in other years the rankings does not include play-offs.

Latest rankings

1. Ohi Omoijuanfo (Molde FK) 27 x 1,5 = 40,5
2. Thomas Lehne Olsen (Lillestrøm SK) 26 x 1,5 = 39
3. Robert Lewandowski (FC Bayern München) 19 x 2 = 38
4. Veton Berisha (Viking FK Stavanger, 5p) 22 x 1,5 = 33
5. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool FC) 16 x 2 = 32
Patrik Schick (Bayer Leverkusen) 16 x 2 = 32
Dusan Vlahovic (AFC Fiorentina) 16 x 2 = 32
8. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) 15 x 2 = 30
9. Mikkel Dahl (Havnar Bóltfelag) 27 x 1 = 27
Ricardo Jorge Gomes (FK Partizan Beograd) 18 x 1,5 = 27
11. Erling Braut Haaland (Borussia Dortmund) 13 x 2 = 26
Ciro Immobile (SS Lazio Roma) 13 x 2 = 26
13. Jonathan David (Lille OSC) 12 x 2 = 24
Giovanni Simeone (Hellas Verona) 12 x 2 = 24
Deniz Undav (Union Saint-Gilloise) 16 x 1,5 = 24
16. Eirik Botheim (Bodø/Glimt) 15 x 1,5 = 22,5
Michael Frey (Royal Antwerp FC) 15 x 1,5 = 22,5
18. Juan Miguel Jiménez López ‘Juanmi’ (Real Betis Sevilla) 11 x 2 = 22
Lautaro Martínez (FC Internazionale Milano) 11 x 2 = 22
Anthony Modeste (1.FC Köln) 11 x 2 = 22
21. Karim Adeyemi (Red Bull Salzburg) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Arthur Cabral Mendonça (FC Basel) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Artem Dovbyk (SK Dnipro-1) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Josip Drmic (HBK Rijeka) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Georgie Kelly (Bohemian FC Dublin) 21 x 1 = 21
26. Henri Anier (Paide Linnameeskond) 20 x 1 = 20
Iago Aspas Juncal (RC Celta de Vigo) 10 x 2 = 20
José Luis Mato Sanmartín ‘Joselu’ (Deportivo Alavés) 10 x 2 = 20
Diogo José Teixeira da Silva ‘Jota’ (Liverpool FC) 10 x 2 = 20
‘Vinícius Júnior’ José Paixão de Oliveira (Real Madrid) 10 x 2 = 20
Wissam Ben Yedder (AS Monaco) 10 x 2 = 20
32. Gamid Agalarov (FC Ufa) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
Marko Livaja (HNK Hajduk Split) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
Shamar Nicholson (RSC Charleroi/ FC Spartak Moskva) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
Darwin Núñez (SL Benfica) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
36. Zakaria Beglarishvili (FCI Levadia Tallinn) 19 x 1 = 19
Dembo Darboe (FC Shakhtyor Soligorsk) 19 x 1 = 19
Jay Donnelly (Glentoran FC) 19 x 1 = 19
Rauno Sappinen (Flora Tallinn) 19 x 1 = 19
40. Ludovic Ajorque (Racing Strasbourg Alsace) 9 x 2 = 18
Taiwo Awoniyi (1. FC Union Berlin) 9 x 2 = 18
Mohamed Bayo (Clermont Foot Auvergne 63) 9 x 2 = 18
Luis Fernando Díaz (FC Porto) 12 x 1,5 = 18
Serge Gnabry (FC Bayern München) 9 x 2 = 18
Sébastien Haller (AFC Ajax) 12 x 1,5 = 18
Aleksandar Katai (FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd) 12 x 1,5 = 18
Páll Klettskarð (KÍ) 18 x 1 = 18
Gaëtan Laborde (Stade Rennais) 9 x 2 = 18
Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain) 9 x 2 = 18
Ebere Onuachu (KRC Genk) 12 x 1,5 = 18
‘João Pedro’ Geraldino dos Santos Galvão (Cagliari Calcio) 9 x 2 = 18
Andrey Solovey (FC Gomel) 18 x 1 = 18
Martin Terrier (Stade Rennais) 9 x 2 = 18
Raúl de Tomás Gómez (RCD Espanyol) 9 x 2 = 18
Dante Vanzeir (Union Saint-Gilloise) 12 x 1,5 = 18
Jamie Vardy (Leicester City) 9 x 2 = 18
Jelle Vossen (SV Zulte Waregem) 12 x 1,5 = 18
Duván Zapata (Atalanta Bergamo) 9 x 2 = 18
59. Samuel Adegbenro (IFK Norrköping) 17 x 1 = 17
Norberto Bercique Gomes Betuncal ‘Beto’ (Portimonense SC/Udinese Calcio) 2 x 1,5 + 7 x 2 = 17
Nemanja Bilbija (HSK Zrinjski Mostar) 17 x 1 = 17
Martin Tomasov (Astana) 17 x 1 = 17
Hugo Vidémont (FK Zalgiris Vilnius) 17 x 1 = 17

** The Golden Shoe is administered, computed and formulated by the European Sports Media group whose members comprise: A Bola (Portugal), ElfVoetbal (Netherlands), Fanatik (Turkey), Foot Magazine (Belgium), Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany), Gazzetta dello Sport (Italy), GoalNews/Sentragoal (Greece), Guerin Sportivo (Italy), Kicker (Germany), Marca (Spain), Nemzeti Sport (Hungary), SoFoot (France), Sport Express (Russia), Telegraaf/Telesport (Netherlands), Tipsbladet (Denmark), World Soccer (England). Affiliated members: Kick Off (South Africa), Titan Sport (China), Netease (China), SportalKorea (South-Korea).

###