Cristiano Ronaldo is chasing his fifth European Golden Shoe award

By Adam Bate

Image: Cristiano Ronaldo is looking to win the European Golden Shoe yet again

Cristiano Ronaldo is chasing a fifth European Golden Shoe after adding to his tally with the winner in El Clasico at the weekend.

The Real Madrid star is already the only man to have won the award on four separate occasions and is only one goal adrift of Napoli's Gonzalo Higuain and Benfica's Jonas this season.

With more games remaining in Spain than Portugal, and Higuain facing a four-game suspension in Italy, Ronaldo is well placed to retain the prize.

Three-time winner Lionel Messi is seven goals behind his great rival this season on 22 goals - the same total as the Premier League's top scorer Harry Kane.

Ronaldo scored a late Clasico winner for Real Madrid at the Camp Nou

However, the race for the Golden Shoe isn't as straightforward as it seems. As well as goals, the strength of the league you're playing in is also a factor.

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How does it work?

There are two factors that come into play when deciding who will receive the Golden Shoe - goals and the UEFA coefficient ranking.

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The goals speak for themselves - you have to score quite a few and penalties count - but the league rankings are slightly trickier.

Ronaldo's record

Cristiano Ronaldo has won the European Golden Shoe on four occasions. That's a record, with Lionel Messi his nearest rival with three wins and eight more players having won the gong twice.

Essentially, each player's goal tally is multiplied by the ranking of the league they score in. 

The five toughest leagues are given the highest rating of 2.0, the next group are assigned a 1.5 rating and the final leagues are given 1.0.

For the current season, the Portuguese league edged out the French league to be included among Europe's five strongest alongside La Liga, the Bundesliga, the Premier League and Serie A.

Image: Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been denied a share of top spot by goal weighting

As a result, Zlatan Ibrahimovic's 30 goals for Paris St Germain are worth only 45 points while Jonas's 30 goals for Benfica are worth 60 points.

The coefficient weighting was introduced during the 1996/97 season, and has seen a league with a 2.0 ranking winning the Golden Shoe in all but one season since.

Henrik Larsson was the exception, winning the accolade during his 35-goal season for Celtic, with the Scottish Premiership having a 1.5 ranking at the time.

Who is leading the race?

Player Club Goals Factor Points
Gonzalo Higuain Napoli 30 2.0 60.0
Jonas Benfica 30 2.0 60.0
Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid 29 2.0 58.0
Luis Suarez Barcelona 26 2.0 52.0
Robert Lewandowski Bayern Munich 25 2.0 50.0
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Borussia Dortmund 23 2.0 46.0
Zlatan Ibrahimovic Paris St Germain 30 1.5 45.0
Harry Kane Tottenham 22 2.0 44.0
Lionel Messi Barcelona 22 2.0 44.0
Eran Zahavi Maccabi Tel Aviv 29 1.5 43.5
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