The French Football magazine L’Equipe introduced the award in the 1967-68 season. Between 1968 and 1991 L’Equipe awarded the European Golden Shoe to the top scorer in any European league. Since the 1996–97 season, European Sports Media have awarded the European Golden boot winners based on a points system. This allows players in tougher leagues to win even if they score fewer goals than a player in a weaker league. This article will look at the list of players who have won the award in the last ten years.
Also Read: Golden Boot winners in the last 10 editions of the Euro Cup
European Golden boot winners (2010/11-2020/21)
Cristiano Ronaldo (2010-11, 2013-14, 2014-15)
Cristiano Ronaldo is arguably one of the best players in the world. He has won four golden boots in his career, three of which came in between 2010-2020. He scored 40 league goals in the 2010-11 season and helped him bag his 2nd Golden boot. However, he was the joint winner in the 2013-14 season with Luis Suarez. Both of them scored 31 goals with 62 points. The final golden boot came in the 2014-15 season which was his fourth and last to date having scored incredible 48 goals and earned 96 points.
Lionel Messi (2011-12, 2012-13, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19)
Lionel Messi holds the record of the most European Golden boot winner. He bagged the award 6 times, the first of which came in 2009-10. However, from 2010 he has won 5 awards more than anyone in history. The Barcelona superstar re-defined the term of goalscoring. Although he mostly plays as a playmaker and not a goal poacher still bagging six golden boots is a feat not everyone can achieve.
| Year | Goals | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 2011-12 | 50 | 100 |
| 2012-13 | 46 | 92 |
| 2016-17 | 37 | 74 |
| 2017-18 | 34 | 68 |
| 2018-19 | 36 | 72 |
Also Read: Football Players who played with both Messi and Ronaldo
Luis Suarez (2013-14, 2015-16)
Luis Suarez is the only player who managed to bag the European Golden Boot award twice but most importantly, in the prime Messi-Ronaldo era. He is probably one of the greatest no.9 in history. He won the award jointly in 2013-14 with Cristiano Ronaldo when he scored 31 goals for Liverpool in the Premier League. The next golden boot came in 2015-16 after he joined FC Barcelona and played alongside the likes of Lionel Messi and Neymar. He scored 40 goals for the Catalan giants in the league and bagged his career’s second golden boot award.
Ciro Immobile (2019-20)
Ciro Immobile has always been one of the standout goal scorers in Europe, but he never had the golden boot to his name. However, in the 2019-20 season, things turned around for him. He scored 36 goals for Lazio in Serie A which helped him get his hands on the award for the first time. He earned 72 points for his goals.
Also Read: List of Top scorers in the last 10 editions of Copa America
Robert Lewandowski (2020-21)
Robert Lewandowski is probably the most delivering underachieving player. He scores goals for funs and carries Bayern Munich on his back day in and day out. However, his efforts were not awarded till the 2020-21 season. Things turned around when he won the UCL with Bayern and also was the top-scorer in the top 5 leagues. He scored 41 goals that season and won his first-ever European Golden Boot in the 2020-21 season.
