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The European Golden Shoe is one of the most prestigious awards in World Football and is awarded to the leading goalscorer in the top European leagues in each season. Although the ranking is based on a points system that was introduced in 1996, it never discredits the goalscoring attributes achieved by the footballers.
However, many renowned figures in world football history have achieved the Golden Shoe or Golden Boot. showcasing the legacy of this accolade.
This season's European Golden Boot race is taking shape, as leading names are eyeing to lift the Boot at the end of the season. Last season, Harry Kane won the Golden Shoe with 36 goals to his name. In the 2022-23 season, Erling Haaland won the Boot with the same number of goals.
However, there was only one instance when a footballer won the European Golden Shoe with a staggering 50 goals, a record which is still untouched.
In this article, find when was the only time a player scored 50 goals to win the European Golden Shoe.
The only time a player scored 50 goals to win the European Golden Shoe
It was Lionel Messi, who accumulated a staggering 50 goals in the 2011-12 Laliga to acquire the European Golden Shoe at the end of the season.
The then-FC Barcelona forward registered 50 goals in a single LaLiga season, which is still a record in the league's history for the most goals scored by a player in a season.
Messi's incredible goalscoring tally that season earned him 100 points in total, which helped him earn his second Golden Boot of his career as the first came in the 2009-10 season.
Lionel Messi was directly involved in 102 goals across all competitions in 2011/12:
— Squawka (@Squawka) February 16, 2019
• 60 games
• 73 goals
• 29 assists
We just had to take a closer look. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/gtk5zSpdBv
Lionel Messi went on to win the Golden Shoe four more times eventually, and now he holds the record for winning the most Golden Boot awards (6), with the last one coming in the 2018-19 season.
Even Messi himself could not replicate the inhuman feat he achieved by scoring 50 goals a season. The Argentine sensation came close to the fifty-goal mark in the 2012-13 season when he won his third Golden Shoe award with 46 goals.
However, it was another superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, who came the closest to the milestone. The Portuguese great scored 48 goals for Real Madrid in the 2014-15 LaLiga, eventually winning his fourth Golden Shoe award.
Cristiano Ronaldo's 4 Golden Boots:
— WorldGoalz (@WorldGoalz_) October 13, 2015
🏆2007/08: 31
🏆2010/11: 40
🏆2013/14: 31
🏆2014/15: 48
First to win 4 times! pic.twitter.com/wILxQIpyhl
Since then, only Luis Suarez and Robert Lewandowski are the two Golden Shoe winners who crossed the 40-goal mark, but no one even came close to the 50-goal tally. Suarez netted 40 goals for Barcelona in the 2015-16 season, whereas Lewandowski bagged 41 goals for Bayern Munich in the 2020-21 season.