KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTS: Robert Lewandowski, the world’s No1 footballer for the second successive year, has also taken over the leadership of the ESM Golden Shoe rankings.

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.

His weekend hat-trick in Bayern’s 4-0 win away to 1FC Koln in the Bundesliga saw him overtake Ohi Omoijuanfo of Molde in Norway whose season is already over.

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.

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

Last season 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.

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

Golden Shoe leaders

1. Robert Lewandowski (FC Bayern München) 23 x 2 = 46
2. Ohi Omoijuanfo (Molde FK) 27 x 1,5 = 40,5
3. Thomas Lehne Olsen (Lillestrøm SK) 26 x 1,5 = 39
4. Patrik Schick (Bayer Leverkusen) 18 x 2 = 36
5. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) 17 x 2 = 34
— Ciro Immobile (SS Lazio Roma) 17 x 2 = 34
7. Dusan Vlahovic (AFC Fiorentina) 17 x 2 = 34
8. Veton Berisha (Viking FK Stavanger) 22 x 1,5 = 33
9. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool FC) 16 x 2 = 32
10. Erling Braut Haaland (Borussia Dortmund) 15 x 2 = 30
11. Mikkel Dahl (Havnar Bóltfelag) 27 x 1 = 27
Ricardo Jorge Gomes (FK Partizan Beograd) 18 x 1,5 = 27
13. Michael Frey (Royal Antwerp FC) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
14. Jonathan David (Lille OSC) 12 x 2 = 24
Anthony Modeste (1.FC Köln) 12 x 2 = 24
Giovanni Simeone (Hellas Verona) 12 x 2 = 24
‘Vinícius Júnior’ José Paixão de Oliveira (Real Madrid) 12 x 2 = 24
Deniz Undav (Union Saint-Gilloise) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Wissam Ben Yedder (AS Monaco) 12 x 2 = 24
20. Eirik Botheim (Bodø/Glimt) 15 x 1,5 = 22,5
21. Juan Miguel Jiménez López ‘Juanmi’ (Real Betis Sevilla) 11 x 2 = 22
Lautaro Martínez (FC Internazionale Milano) 11 x 2 = 22
23. 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
Darwin Núñez (SL Benfica) 14 x 1,5 = 21
29. Ludovic Ajorque (Racing Strasbourg Alsace) 10 x 2 = 20
Henri Anier (Paide Linnameeskond) 20 x 1 = 20
Iago Aspas Juncal (RC Celta de Vigo) 10 x 2 = 20
Domenico Berardi (US Sassuolo Calcio) 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
Gaëtan Laborde (Stade Rennais) 10 x 2 = 20
Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain) 10 x 2 = 20
Martin Terrier (Stade Rennais) 10 x 2 = 20
Raúl de Tomás Gómez (RCD Espanyol) 10 x 2 = 20
39. Gamid Agalarov (FC Ufa) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
Luis Fernando Díaz (FC Porto) 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
43. Zakaria Beglarishvili (FCI Levadia Tallinn) 19 x 1 = 19
Norberto Bercique Gomes Betuncal ‘Beto’ (Portimonense SC/Udinese Calcio) 2 x 1,5 + 8 x 2 = 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
48. Taiwo Awoniyi (1. FC Union Berlin) 9 x 2 = 18
Mohamed Bayo (Clermont Foot Auvergne 63) 9 x 2 = 18
Serge Gnabry (FC Bayern München) 9 x 2 = 18
Amine Gouiri (OGC Nice) 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
Jasmin Kurtic (PAOK FC) 12 x 1,5 = 18
Christopher Nkunku (RasenBallsport Leipzig) 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
Aleksandar Pesic (Fatih Karagümruük AS) 12 x 1,5 = 18
Gianluca Scamacca (US Sassuolo Calcio) 9 x 2 = 18
Andrey Solovey (FC Gomel) 18 x 1 = 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

** 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).

###