Race for the European Golden Shoe - January 2019 watch
The European Golden Shoe is an award given out to the top scorer in European leagues since 1967/1968. The award is handed out by European Sports media.
Coefficients are given out to leagues based on their UEFA ranking. Hence, fewer goals scored in a tougher league are ranked higher than more goals in a weaker league.
The goals are multiplied by a factor of 2 in the leagues ranked one to five (LaLiga - Ligue 1), while leagues ranked six to twenty-one (Russian Premier League - Belarus Vyseyshaya) are multiplied by a factor of 1.5 and leagues ranked twenty-two and below are multiplied by one.
The award has been won by some of the most legendary players of the past such as Eusebio, Gerd Muller and Marco van Basten, as well as modern icons such as Thierry Henry, Francesco Totti, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi who is also the current holder of the award, after winning it for a record fifth time at the end of the just concluded season.
Having entered a new year, the race is beginning to narrow down to the usual suspects although there are one or two surprises. In this piece, we present the top 10 candidates in the race for the 2019 European Golden Shoe.
(Note: All stats correct as of 2 January 2019)
#10 Emiliano Sala (Nantes)
League - France's Ligue 1
Goals - 12 (24 points)
The Argentine has been in fine form for Nantes ever since his 2015 transfer from Girondins Bordeaux.
He has scored 42 league goals for the club in 116 Ligue 1 matches, and in October 2018 became the first Nantes player to score a Ligue 1 hat-trick since Mamadou Diallo in February 2006.
So far this campaign, Sala has scored 12 goals and laid on two assists in 16 Ligue 1 matches, and the 28-year-old finds himself second in the scorers' chart of France.