Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland are the last three winners of the European Golden Shoe and the three heavy favourites to claim the award in 2026-27, but who currently tops the leaderboard?

The likes of Raphinha, Donyell Malen, Mbappe and Lamine Yamal are among the most prolific goalscorers in Europe’s five major leagues at this fledgling stage of the new season – but for now the top of the charts looks quite different.

That’s because of the slightly convoluted scoring system, and the fact that a number of leagues have had a major head start on the likes of La Liga and Premier League by running a schedule that runs more concurrently to the calendar year.

The weightings are based on UEFA’s five-year league coefficient rankings. Goals in the top five leagues count double, those in leagues ranked 6th-22nd count 1.5 times, and those below 22nd count once.

Come the end of the season, we’ll almost certainly see the usual superstar suspects at the top of this list (no player from outside of Europe’s top five leagues has won it since Mario Jardel with Sporting in 2001-02), but at present the list is dominated by an interesting mix of under-the radar names. And Raphinha.

Here’s the top 10 as things currently stand.

The Norwegian striker who is not Erling Haaland has played for both Malmo and Viking this season, scoring two goals in an 8-1 win in his second game for the club back in his home country. He cost them less than £3m, so could be a bargain.

The youngest player on this list, 19-year-old Panamanian Vergara has made a decent start to life in the Belgian Pro League with Gent after catching the eye with 14 goals in 20 appearances for FK Auda in the Latvian Virsliga.

We’d be amazed if Brighton’s scouts aren’t already all over this one.

Something of a revelation for the aforementioned surprise package Sirius, Bjerkebo has notched 13 goals (and five assists) from just 20 appearances in the club’s fairytale title charge this season.

You wonder if any particularly committed WyScout maniacs are keeping tabs on the 23-year-old left winger.

Here’s one you (might) have actually heard of – a full Algeria international, with three caps to his name.

Admittedly he isn’t a household name, but relatively well established at just 20 years of age and on track for a decent enough career.

Chiakha was born and raised in Copenhagen and represented Denmark at three youth levels before making the switch to his fatherland at senior level. He won a domestic double, albeit in a peripheral role, with his boyhood club in 2024-25, but he’s really kicked on since going out on loan to Rosenborg.

He’s scored 12 goals in 20 appearances in the Eliteserien in 2026, earning him a permanent move to the Norwegian outfit.

Only the name at the top of this list has scored more goals than Badamosi, but they only count for a point apiece for Riga FC in the Virsliga.

The Gambian journeyman striker hasn’t been especially prolific in his career, having represented clubs in his home nation, Senegal, Morocco, Belgium, Serbia, Saudi Arabia and Romania, but he appears to have found a nice fit in Latvia.

As an aside, we’ve just found out that league is home to the brilliantly named Ogre United. Note to selves: get this list updated immediately.

Abraham has scored 14 goals in the mid-ranking Swedish Allsvenskan this season.

He’s done so for Hammarby, who look set to lose out on this season’s title, trailing surprise league leaders Sirius by eight points. The club have never won a major trophy before and have spent the majority of their history in the Swedish lower tiers.

Still near the top of the Swedish scoring charts, Ure is one of only two in this list to currently play in one of Europe’s five major leagues.

The Glaswegian striker, who came up through Rangers’ academy, was signed by Sevilla for a reported €6.5million fee last month – having made a name for himself at Sirius. He’ll be a big miss.

He’s yet to open his account in La Liga, but he’s looked a handy enough addition for a Sevilla side who have started the new season in fine fettle. Any further goals he scores will count double.

Bag a few for Sevilla and he could, at least briefly, find himself top of this list. He has made it into Sebastien Pocognoli’s first Scotland squad.

Bjerkebo, Ure and Abraham trail in the Allsvenskan scoring charts to the Djurgaden centre-forward.

Lien has scored 16 goals in 21 league outings this season.

The only man on this list likely to still be on this list at the end of the season.

Harry Kane, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe have won the last four European Golden Shoes. At the start of the season, we couldn’t look beyond any of them as a viable candidate in 2026-27. But could we see a surprise contender?

Raphinha has been reborn as a striker this season after the exit of Robert Lewandowski from Barcelona and he has already scored 12 goals in just seven La Liga games, including hat-tricks in each of his last two.

A player without a Wikipedia page currently leads the race for an award most often won by Lionel Messi. Football is great sometimes.

Think of Oloko as the Haaland of the Latvian Virsliga. After scoring 16 goals in as many games this season for Tukums, the Nigerian striker earned a move to Liepaja and has almost maintained that near goal-per-game average with a further nine in 10 this season.

Oloko also scored in the UEFA Conference League qualifiers as Liepaja made it past Montenegrin side Decic Tuzi, but he came unstuck in the next round as they were defeated home and away to Austria Wien.