Top 10 contenders for the European Golden Shoe - February 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.
Lionel Messi is the current holder of the award, after winning it for a record fifth time at the end of last season.
Having entered the business end of the campaign, the race is beginning to narrow down to the usual suspects although there are still 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 February 4 2019
#10 Duvan Zapata (Atalanta)
League - Italian Serie A (X2)
15 GOALS (30 POINTS)
The 27-year-old has been in sensational form this season at Atalanta on loan from Sampdoria.
Earlier on in the season, he became the first Atalanta player in over 60 years to score 4 goals in a single Serie A match when he scored a quadruple in a 5-0 win away to Frosinone, while he had scored a brace in a 2-2 draw with Juventus in December.
He currently has 15 goals in the current campaign and is only two goals shy of top marksman Cristiano Ronaldo in the scorer's chart.