KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTING —- The prolific Erling Haaland is striding ever closer to winning both the ESM European Golden Shoe and the English Premier League’s top scorer award.

Manchester City’s Norwegian scored his 33rd league goal to wrap up the crucial 4-1 victory over Arsenal to lead Tottenham’s England captain Harry Kane by 10 goals in both rankings. Haaland had only a remote possibility, however magnificent his achievement, of setting a European ranking record.

Highest single-season scorer in the history of the Golden Shoe was Lionel Messi with 50 goals for Barcelona in 2011-12. Haaland, with a maximum seven league games remaining, would have to amass goals at a rate of at least two a game.

Still, he could well join the elite of 15 players to have claimed 40 goals or more since the original, Adidas-backed award was created in 1967-68.

Apart from Messi 11 years ago, the other men in the ‘Club of 40’ are Eusebio (Benfica, 42 in 1967-68 and 40 in 1972-73), Josip Skoblar (Marseille, 44 in 1970-71), Gerd Muller (40 in 1971-72), Hector Yazalde (Sporting, 46 in 1973-74), Dudu Georgescu (Dinamo Bucharest, 47 in 1976-77), Hans Krankl (Rapid Vienna, 41 in 1977-78), Dorin Mateut (Dinamo Bucharest, 43 in 1988-89), David Taylor (Porthmadog, 43 in 1993-94), Zviad Endeladze (Margveti, 40 in 1995-96), Mario Jardel (Sporting 42 in 2001-02), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, 40 in 2010-11 and 48 in 2014-15), Luis Suarez (Barcelona, 40 in 2015-16) and Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich, 41 on 2020-21).

Messi also won with 46 goals in 2012-13.

ESM revival

In 1996-97 the competition was reorganised under the administration of the European Sports Media association, founded by the continent’s leading sports publications.

From that point the UEFA ranking system was used to generate a points system which rewarded the goals by players in the most competitive leagues.

Hence marksmen from the Big Five (England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain) benefit from a points multiplier of two. Players in leagues between places six and 22 of the UEFA national ranking 2022 receive a 1.5 coëfficiënt. As in former years the ranking does not include play-offs or cup matches in the official ranking.

The last winner from outside the Big Five leagues was Mario Jardel with his 42 goals for Sporting in the Portuguese league in 2001-02.

Golden Shoe: latest ranking

1. Erling Braut Haaland (Manchester City) 33 x 2 = 66
2. Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) 24 x 2 = 48
3. Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain) 22 x 2 = 44
4. Jonathan David (Lille OSC) 21 x 2 = 42
Victor Osimhen (SSC Napoli) 21 x 2 = 42
6. Enner Valencia (Fenerbahçe SK) 27 x 1,5 = 40,5
7. Alexandre Lacazette (Olympique Lyonnais) 20 x 2 = 40
8. Ivan Toney (Brentford FC) 19 x 2 = 38
9. Amahl Pellegrino (FK Bodö/Glimt) 25 x 1,5 = 37,5
10. Folarin Balogun (Stade de Reims) 18 x 2 = 36
11. Kyogo Furuhashi (Celtic FC) 23 x 1,5 = 34,5
12. Habibou ‘Habib’ Mouhamadou Diallo (Racing Strasbourg) 17 x 2 = 34
Robert Lewandowski (FC Barcelona) 17 x 2 = 34
Loïs Openda (RC Lens) 17 x 2 = 34
Wissam Ben Yedder (AS Monaco) 17 x 2 = 34
16. Niclas Füllkrug (SV Werder Bremen) 16 x 2 = 32
Terem Moffi (FC Lorient/OGC Nice) 16 x 2 = 32
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool FC) 16 x 2 = 32
19. Lawrence Shankland (Heart of Midlothian) 21 x 1,5 = 31,5
20. Hugo Cuypers (KAA Gent) 20 x 1,5 = 30
‘Gabriel Martinelli’ Silva (Arsenal) 15 x 2 = 30
Lautaro Martínez (Internazionale Milano) 15 x 2 = 30
Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain) 15 x 2 = 30
Marcus Rashford (Manchester United) 15 x 2 = 30
Kevin van Veen (Motherwell FC) 20 x 1,5 = 30
26. Fabio Borini (Fatih Karagümrük) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5
Artem Dovbyk (SK Dnipro-1) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5
Jakub Reznícek (FC Zbrojovka Brno) 19 x 1,5 = 28,5
29. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) 14 x 2 = 28
Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa) 14 x 2 = 28
31. Gianni Bruno (Sint-Truiden VV) 18 x 1,5 = 27
Mbaye Diagne (Fatih Karagümrük) 18 x 1,5 = 27
‘Malcom’ Filipe Silva de Oliveira (FC Zenit St. Petersburg) 18 x 1,5 = 27
Marko Livaja (HNK Hajduk Split) 18 x 1,5 = 27
Rayan Philippe (FC Swift Hesperange) 27 x 1 = 27
Ayase Ueda (Cercle Brugge) 18 x 1,5 = 27
37. Bobur Abdikholikov (FK Energetik-BGU Minsk) 26 x 1 = 26
Vincenzo Grifo (SC Freiburg) 13 x 2 = 26
Randal Kolo Muani (SG Eintracht Frankfurt) 13 x 2 = 26
Ademola Lookman (Atalanta Bergamo) 13 x 2 = 26
‘Neymar’ da Silva Santos Júnior (Paris Saint-Germain) 13 x 2 = 26
M’Bala Nzola (Spezia Calcio 1906) 13 x 2 = 26
Bukayo Saka (Arsenal) 13 x 2 = 26
Marcus Thuram (Borussia Mönchengladbach) 13 x 2 = 26
Enes Ünal (Getafe CF) 13 x 2 = 26
Elye Wahi (Montpellier Hérault SC) 13 x 2 = 26
47. Cédric Itten (BSC Young Boys) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
‘Jairo’ de Macedo da Silva (Pafos FC) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
‘João Mário’ Naval (SL Benfica) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
Aleksandar Katai (FK Crvena Zvezda Belgrade) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
Quincy Promes (FC Spartak Moscow) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
Gonçalo Matias Ramos (SL Benfica) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
53. Iago Aspas Juncal (RC Celta de Vigo) 12 x 2 = 24
Omer Atzili (Maccabi Haifa) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Mama Samba Baldé (ESTAC Troyes) 12 x 2 = 24
Guido Burgstaller (SK Rapid Wien) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Thijs Dallinga (Toulouse FC) 12 x 2 = 24
Luís Henrique Barros Lopes ‘Duk’ (Aberdeen FC) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Breel Embolo (AS Monaco) 12 x 2 = 24
Borja Iglesias Quintás (Real Betis Sevilla) 12 x 2 = 24
Vincent Janssen (Royal Antwerp FC) 16 x 1,5 = 24
‘Joselu’ José Luis Mato Sanmartín (RCD Espanyol) 12 x 2 = 24
Raimonds Krollis (Valmiera FC) 24 x 1 = 24
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (SSC Napoli) 12 x 2 = 24
Rafael Alexandre Conceiçao Leão (AC Milan) 12 x 2 = 24
Bojan Miovski (Aberdeen FC) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Vedat Muriqi (RCD Mallorca) 12 x 2 = 24
Christopher Nkunku (RasenBallsport Leipzig) 12 x 2 = 24
Jean-Pierre Nsamé (BSC Young Boys) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Martin Ödegaard (Arsenal) 12 x 2 = 24
Ebere Paul Onuachu (KRC Genk/Southampton) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Markus Pink (SK Austria Klagenfurt) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Alexis Sánchez (Olympique Marseille) 12 x 2 = 24
Hugo Vetlesen (FK Bodö/Glimt) 16 x 1,5 = 24
75. Cody Gakpo (PSV Eindhoven/Liverpool FC) 9 x 1,5 + 5 x 2 = 23,5
76. Dominik Stolz (FC Swift Hesperange) 23 x 1 = 23
Barnabás Varga (Paksi FC) 23 x 1 = 23

** 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), Telegraaf/Telesport (Netherlands), Tipsbladet (Denmark), World Soccer (England). Affiliated members: Kick Off (South Africa), Titan Sport (China), Netease (China), SportalKorea (South-Korea).

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