After back-to-back Erling Haaland wins, Mohamed Salah returned to the top of the Premier League’s scoring charts last season, and the pair had been expected to tussle for Golden Boot honours in 2025–26.
The award has been handed out to the leading scorer(s) of each Premier League season since the competition’s inauguration in 1992.
Some of the sport’s finest sharpshooters have tested their talents on English shores, and one of the contemporary greats, Haaland, has threatened to monopolise this scoring prize since he arrived from Borussia Dortmund in 2022. The Nordic goal-machine broke the Premier League’s single-season scoring record in year one and, after losing out to Salah last year, is performing like a striker determined to reclaim the esteemed individual award.
Here's a look at the 2025–26 Premier League Golden Boot race.
Jean-Philippe Mateta
Barclaysman. / Julian Finney/Getty Images
Games Played: 11
Goals: 6
Jean Philippe-Mateta’s exploits in south London have earned him a long-awaited call-up to the French national team at the age of 28.
A proper Barclaysman who arrived far too late to be officially labelled one, Mateta enjoyed an excellent scoring season in 2024–25 and notched his second Premier League hat-trick during Crystal Palace’s dramatic 3–3 draw with Bournemouth in October.
Danny Welbeck
Welbeck for England? / Harry Murphy/Getty Images
Games Played: 11
Goals: 6
The veteran striker had never notched double-digit goals in a Premier League season until hipster German coach Fabian Hürzeler came along.
After scoring ten times in the league for Brighton & Hove Albion last season, Welbeck looks poised to better that tally in 2025–26. There have even been whispers of an England recall, having last featured for his country in 2018.
Antoine Semenyo
Semenyo has been one of the stars of the season so far. / James Gill/Danehouse/Getty Images
Games Played: 11
Goals: 6
Antoine Semenyo endured a couple of quiet outings leading into the November international break and was guilty of missing a penalty in Bournemouth’s 4–0 defeat at Aston Villa.
Still, the powerful and versatile winger has been one of the stars of the season so far, with his fierce striking ability of two feet catching out a healthy supply of goalkeepers.
Igor Thiago
Thiago is thriving after an injury-hit debut season. / Catherine Ivill/AMA/Getty Images)
Games Played: 11
Goals: 8
After an injury-hit debut season, Brentford are finally reaping the rewards of Igor Thiago’s labour.
Signed as an Ivan Toney replacement, Thiago is far from the standout facilitator Toney was in west London, but the Brazilian is an excellent poacher who has a knack for being in the right place at the right time.
The Bees’ opportunistic centre-forward is currently closing to challenging the two-time winner.
Erling Haaland
Man City’s hitman is flying high at the top of the scoring charts. / Visionhaus/Getty Images
Games Played: 11
Goals: 14
It’s been another freakish start to a Premier League season for Erling Haaland, who looks primed to take home a third Golden Boot.
Manchester City had been utterly reliant on his unerring ability in front of goal at the start of the season, but recent performances suggest Pep Guardiola’s side are rediscovering an imperious collective groove. They will be there or thereabouts in the title hunt, and Haaland’s goals will be imperative.
At this rate (1.27 goals per game), Haaland will beat his record from 2022–23.
Season Player Club Goals
2024–25 Mohamed Salah Liverpool 29
2023–24 Erling Haaland Man City 27
2022–23 Erling Haaland Man City 26
2021–22 Son Heung-min & Mohamed Salah Tottenham & Liverpool 23
2020–21 Harry Kane Tottenham 23
Harry Kane
Harry Kane has taken home three Golden Boots. / Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
The formative years of Premier League football were dominated by the 4-4-2 and homegrown marksmen, with the first seven Golden Boots won by an Englishman.
However, foreign influence started to be felt towards the end of the 90s, and the abundance of quality brought in from overseas this century means Harry Kane is the only man to don a Three Lions shirt and win the Premier League Golden Boot since 2001.
The competition’s second all-time leading goalscorer has prevailed three times, with only Thierry Henry and Mohamed Salah (four wins) claiming the prize more. The Egyptian added a fourth success during Liverpool’s title triumph last season.
Kane joined Alan Shearer on three wins in 2021, with Shearer being only one of two players to claim the award for two different teams. Robin van Persie is the other, and he did it in back-to-back seasons; first with Arsenal, then Manchester United.
Michael Owen, Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink, Didier Drogba and Haaland have also won the Golden Boot multiple times. Both of Owen’s wins were examples of the award being shared, which has happened five times, most recently between Salah and Son Heung-min in 2021–22.
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