Top 5 contenders for the European Golden Shoe 2016/17
The race for the Golden Boot award in Europe is one of the most closely contested in recent years. It’s not simply just based on goals scored – different leagues are assigned a difficulty factor. The Bundesliga, Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and the Primeira Liga (Portugal) have all been assigned a difficulty factor of 2.0, but Ligue 1 is rated at 1.5.
Here are the best players competing for the European Golden Shoe:
The Best of the Rest
#10 Cristiano Ronaldo – 18 goals – 36 points
Cristiano Ronaldo has won the European Golden Shoe 4 times, the highest of any player in football. He last won the award 2 seasons ago with 48 goals,
#6 Harry Kane, Edin Dzeko, Robert Lewandowski, Gonzalo Higuain – 19 goals – 38 points
Harry Kane leads the the Premier League in terms of goal scored, with the Tottenham Hotspur striker 1 ahead of Romelu Lukaku. Kane has scored 4 penalties though, compared to none scored by Lukaku.
Edin Dzeko has resurrected his career at AS Roma, after a discouraging season last time around at the Giallorossi. The Bosnian striker’s form has resulted in Roma mounting a title challenge, although he may have to score way more than his 19 goals to stop the Juventus juggernaut.
Robert Lewandowski is ever present in the race for the European Golden Shoe, although the Bayern Munich striker is at an disadvantage having 4 fewer games to play in the Bundesliga.
Gonzalo Higuain broke Serie A’s Capocanniere record last season, scoring 36 goals for Napoli, and is on course to score a similar total for Juventus this time around. The Argentinian will find it tough to end up on top in this race, though – given how hard it is to score in Serie A.