The race for the 2022/23 Golden Shoe: Haaland is important again for Manchester Cit
With the 2022/23 football season back in full swing, the race for the Golden Shoe has also started again. All footballers on the European fields will do their best to score as many goals as possible and eventually win this award. But who will end up with the Golden Shoe? online-betting.org lists all the statistics for you.
For now, the European Golden Shoe standings table below will only show players from the top five European leagues, where the winner is likely to come from. While players from outside the top five leagues in Europe are also eligible for the Golden Shoe, the winner has not come from one of those divisions since 2002.
Golden shoe 2022/23: the current standings
Erling Braut Haaland returned to action for Manchester City. The Norwegian striker ensured victory in the very last minute by firing in the 2-1 against Fulham. The goal put Haaland further ahead of direct rival Robert Lewandowski. Barcelona’s striker failed to score against Almería (2-0).
Christopher Nkunku of RB Leipzig pops into the top five. The French striker had a major part in last Saturday’s 1-3 victory over Hoffenheim with two goals. Nkunku thus moves to 22 points in the league table.
2022/23 European Golden Shoe
What are the rules for the Golden Shoe?
Only national league goals are counted in the battle for the Golden Shoe. However, not every goal from every league counts equally. In the toughest leagues, the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1, each goal counts twice in the standings. So if a footballer scores once in these leagues, he gets two points. For leagues between the 6th and 21st position on the UEFA coefficient list, a goal counts for one and a half points. Outside this top 21, a goal yields only one point in the rankings.
From 1968 to 1991, however, this system was not in place. Back then, the award simply went to the footballer who had scored the most goals in his league. In the past, players have also occasionally had to share the prize. In the 2013/14 season, both Luis Suárez and Cristiano Ronaldo scored 31 goals. However, should this happen again in the future, the player with the least number of minutes played will get the prize.
Top candidates for the Golden Shoe 2022/23
One of the biggest candidates for the Golden Shoe 2022/23 is, of course, the striker who won the award the past two seasons. Robert Lewandowski has been known as an absolute top striker for years and scored 35 goals for Bayern Munich last season. However, the Pole transferred to Barcelona for £39,22 million last summer, so it is no certainty that Lewandowski will perform as well again.
Perhaps one of Lewandowski’s biggest rivals is playing for Barcelona’s great rival. After all, at Real Madrid, Karim Benzema is running around. The Frenchman became top scorer in both La Liga and the Champions League last season and is likely to find the net frequently again this term.
However, the two will have to take Erling Braut Haaland into account. Haaland created a furore at Borussia Dortmund and then switched to Manchester City for sixty million euros. In Manchester, the Norwegian has more top players running around him who can put him in position in front of goal.
Paris Saint-Germain’s super trio should not be forgotten either. Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar are all capable of scoring huge amounts of goals. In addition, they also have the advantage of being active in the Ligue 1. Although the Ligue 1 is regarded by UEFA as one of the top five leagues in Europe, there is considerably less resistance here than in the Premier League or La Liga.
Who won the Golden Shoe in the past?
So far, Lionel Messi has won the Golden Shoe most often. The Argentine could crown himself Europe’s top marksman no fewer than six times. However, his last Golden Shoe dates back to the 2018/19 season. Messi also holds the record for most goals and points in a single season. In the 2011/12 season, the striker managed to score 50 times, accumulating 100 points in the Golden Shoe standings.
After Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo has received the Golden Shoe the most times. The Portuguese striker won the award four times, with his last one coming in the 2014/15 season. After Messi and Ronaldo, only 10 other footballers have managed to seize the prestigious award twice. They include Luis Suárez, Thierry Henry, Diego Forlán and Robert Lewandowski.