Mbappe to receive his first European Golden Boot: How many times have Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo won it?
Few would argue against Kylian Mbappe’s place today as one of the biggest stars in world soccer. The forward shined last season with Real Madrid and has only improved this year. His brilliance earned him the European Golden Boot, a trophy once claimed by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, which will be presented to Mbappe this Friday at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
The European Golden Boot is awarded annually to the top goal scorer across Europe’s major leagues. It was created in 1968 and was originally presented by the French newspaper L’Equipe, but for decades it has been organized by the European Sports Media.
The scoring system for this award not only counts the total number of goals a player scores in a season but also applies a points coefficient based on the difficulty of each league. This system gives more weight to players competing in the continent’s most prestigious leagues, such as Spain, England, Italy, France, and Germany.
During the 2024–25 campaign, Kylian Mbappe delivered an outstanding performance in La Liga. He scored 31 goals in 34 matches for Real Madrid, finishing as the top scorer of the season. That total placed him ahead of other stars not only in La Liga, like Robert Lewandowski, but also of Mohamed Salah, Erling Haaland, and Ousmane Dembele.
How many times has Ronaldo won the Golden Boot?
As expected, Cristiano Ronaldo has a rich history with the European Golden Boot, having won it four times. The first came during his initial spell with Manchester United in 2008. That year, he scored 31 goals in 34 Premier League matches and also led the Red Devils to the UEFA Champions League title, a campaign that earned him the Ballon d’Or.
The other three occasions came with Real Madrid. In 2011, he scored 40 goals in 34 matches, surpassing Messi in that season’s race. He did it again in 2014 (31 goals in 30 matches) and in 2015 (48 goals in 35 matches).
Messi dominates the European Golden Boot
While Cristiano Ronaldo’s numbers are remarkable, they pale in comparison to those of Lionel Messi. The Argentine forward holds the record for the most European Golden Boot wins since the award’s creation in 1968, with a total of six. In fact, before Messi, no player had ever won it more than twice.
The first of those trophies came in 2010, when he scored 34 goals in 35 La Liga matches with Barcelona. He won it again in 2012 and 2013, scoring 50 and 46 goals, respectively. After a brief drought, Messi achieved the unthinkable: three consecutive European Golden Boots in 2017 (37 goals), 2018 (34 goals), and 2019 (36 goals).
The new contenders for the European Golden Boot
With Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in the final stages of their professional careers and no longer competing in Europe’s top leagues, new stars have stepped into the spotlight in the race for the Golden Boot. Since Messi’s last triumph in 2019, five different players have claimed the award.
Ciro Immobile won it with Lazio in 2020, marking the only Serie A player to do so in nearly two decades. He was followed by Robert Lewandowski, who earned back-to-back trophies while at Bayern Munich. Erling Haaland and Harry Kane were the next winners — before Mbappe.