Top Golden Boot Winners of the 2000s

Scoring goals is often regarded as the most challenging aspect of soccer, from grassroots to professional levels. 

Therefore, it's astonishing when top players accumulate Golden Boot awards so frequently.

We've compiled a list of the 10 male players who have won the most domestic Golden Boot awards in Europe's top five leagues since 2000.

1. Lionel Messi – 8

Messi shares the top spot with Lewandowski, having won eight Golden Boot awards, all with Barcelona.

He scored 672 goals in 778 games for the club. His time at PSG was less memorable, but his legacy was already well-established.

Messi holds the record for six European Golden Shoes, a record that might never be broken.

1. Robert Lewandowski – 8

Lewandowski has made a career out of scoring goals effortlessly.

Seven of his eight Golden Boot awards came in the Bundesliga, with two at Borussia Dortmund and the rest at Bayern Munich.

Upon leaving Bayern for Barcelona in 2022, Lewandowski became the only player other than Johan Cruyff to win a European treble while being the top scorer in all three competitions.

3. Kylian Mbappe – 6

Remarkably, Mbappe has won the Ligue 1 Golden Boot six times but has yet to secure a European Golden Boot.

Since his first Golden Boot in the 2018-19 season, he has consistently been Ligue 1’s top scorer.

Now at Real Madrid, Mbappe is on the hunt for his first Champions League title and European Golden Shoe.

4. Cristiano Ronaldo – 5

Despite his five Ballon d’Or awards, Ronaldo doesn't make it to the top three on this list.

He has won five Golden Boot awards across three of Europe’s top five leagues, with his most notable achievements at Real Madrid. Ronaldo topped the La Liga scoring charts three times, each time winning the European Golden Shoe.

His first European Golden Shoe came from his 2007-08 season with Manchester United, where he scored 31 Premier League goals.

4. Zlatan Ibrahimovic – 5

Ibrahimovic has won five Golden Boot awards in Europe’s top five leagues. Three of these were in Ligue 1 with PSG, and two were in Serie A with different clubs.

He was the Serie A top scorer in the 2008-09 season with Inter and again in the 2011-12 season with Milan, making him the only foreign player to win the Serie A Golden Boot with two different teams.

6. Harry Kane – 4

Kane has won three Premier League Golden Boot awards with Tottenham, the last of which came in the 2020-21 season, despite the team finishing seventh.

He moved to Bayern Munich in the 2023-24 season and ended his first year in Bavaria as the European Golden Shoe winner with 36 goals.

At 31, Kane has yet to win a major honor, but his scoring ability is undeniable.

6. Ciro Immobile – 4

Often overlooked and underrated, Immobile has quietly dominated Serie A with Lazio. He is eighth on Serie A’s all-time scorer list and Lazio’s all-time top scorer.

In the 2019-20 season, he won the European Golden Shoe by scoring 36 league goals, tying the record for the most goals in a single Serie A season.

Now at Besiktas, Immobile is no longer in a top-five European league but his legacy remains.

8. Thierry Henry – 4

Though he retired in 2014, Henry still holds a spot on this list.

His four Golden Boot awards, all won with Arsenal in the Premier League, are a testament to his incredible abilities during the 2000s.

Impressively, three of these awards came consecutively from 2003 to 2006.

9. Edinson Cavani – 3

A classic striker, Cavani has also claimed three Golden Boot awards in Europe’s top five leagues.

Two of these came during his successful stint with Paris Saint-Germain, and another in the 2012-13 season with Napoli.

Remarkably, Cavani is PSG's second all-time top scorer, although he only finished as Ligue 1’s top scorer twice, despite winning six league titles with the club.

9. Mohamed Salah – 3

With three Premier League Golden Boots to his name, Salah’s scoring rate since joining Liverpool in 2017 has been exceptional.

He set the record for most goals in a Premier League season (32) in his first year back in England's top-flight.

Salah has also won a Premier League title, been named the Premier League Player of the Season, and secured a Champions League victory—all while playing as a right winger.

In summary, while scoring goals is widely considered the most difficult skill in football, these players have made it seem almost routine, consistently topping scoring charts and collecting Golden Boot awards throughout their careers.

Source: planetfootball

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