Harry Kane: Will Bayern Munich striker become England's second European Golden Shoe winner?

Admin Published: November 17, 2022, 5:52 pm
Harry Kane: Will Bayern Munich striker become England's second European Golden Shoe winner?

It may still be early in the season but Harry Kane's record-breaking beginning at Bayern Munich gives him a great start to become only England's second European Golden Shoe winner.

The European Golden Shoe is awarded to the top scorer in any of Europe's top flights in a season - but there is a caveat.

The goals are weighted, so players in the top five European leagues see their goals count double, the leagues ranked sixth to 22nd are at 1.5 times and the lower ranked divisions' players' goals count just once.

So in theory a League of Ireland or Estonian Meistriliiga player could win it, although he might have to score about 70 or 80 goals.

The only English player to win it before was Sunderland's Kevin Phillips in 1999-2000. At the bottom of this piece there is a quiz to see if you can name the other winners since.

But first we look at where Kane stands and who his main rivals are this season.

How is Kane doing?

Kane is the top scorer in Europe's top five leagues this season but he is not actually top of the European Golden Shoe race yet (more on that in a minute).

Bayern's summer signing from Tottenham has scored 17 goals in his first 11 Bundesliga games, something no player has managed before.

Remarkably he would already have won last season's Bundesliga Golden Boot with that total. Niclas Fullkrug and Christopher Nkunku shared the 2022-23 top scorer trophy with 16 goals each.

Were Kane to keep up this goalscoring run, however unlikely that is, he would end the season with 52 goals.

The record for Bundesliga goals in a season is Robert Lewandowski's 41, which was only set in 2021.

Kane has never been close to the Golden Shoe before. His best scoring season of 30 would not have won the award since 2007.