Who is on course to claim the European Golden Shoe?

March 20th, 2008 by SM Dev (ste)

The race to claim the European Golden Shoe, formerly known as the European Golden Boot, is now really hotting up as the majority of Europe’s major leagues are in their final phase.

Since the 1967/68 season, the highest goal scorer in all the top European divisions each season, has been awarded the European Golden Boot. However since the 1996/97 season, a points system has been introduced, which allows those in ‘tougher’ leagues to win even if they score fewer goals than someone in a ‘poor’ league. Goals are ranked differently between the leagues as follows:

• goals scored in leagues ranked 1st-8th according to the UEFA coefficient are multiplied by a factor 2;
• goals scored in leagues ranked 9th-21st according to the UEFA coefficient are multiplied by a factor 1.5;
• goals scored in leagues ranked 22nd and above according to the UEFA coefficient are not multiplied by a factor.

The new format helps the European Sports Magazine (ESM) decide who is awarded the prestigious award, as the ESM (a European association of football related publications) now have a means to judge fairly the number of goals scored by an individual (based on the respective strength of their league).

So who are the candidates that are in the running for this years prestigious award?

From Spain’s  La Liga:

•  Luís Fabiano with 22 goals for Seville; 
•  Daniel  Güiza with 15 goals for Mallorca;
•  Diego Milito with 15 goals for Real Zaragoza.

From Italy’s  Serie A:

•  Marco Borriello with 17 goals for Genoa;
•   David Trezeguet with 16 goals for Juventus;
•   Adrian Mutu &  Zlatan Ibrahimović with 15 goals each for Fiorentina & Internazionale respecitvely.

 From England’s Premier League:

•  Cristiano Ronaldo with 24 goals for Manchester United;
•  Fernando Torres with 20 goals for Liverpool;
•   Emmanuel Adebayor with 19 goals for Arsenal.

From Germany’s  Bundesliga:

•  Luca Toni &  Mario Gómez with 14 goals each for Bayern Munchen  & VFB Stuttgart respecitvely.

From France’s  Ligue 1:

•  Karim Benzema with 17 goals for Lyon.

From Portugal’s  Portuguese Liga:

•  Lisandro López with 19 goals for FC Porto.

From Scotland’s   Premier League:

•  Scott McDonald with 19 goals for Celtic.

From the Netherland’s  Eredivise:

•   Klaas-Jan Huntelaar with 28 goals for Ajax.

From Greece’s   Super League:

•  Darko Kovačević with 16 goals for Olympiacos.

From Croatia’s   Prva HNL:

•  Nikola Kalinić with 15 goals for Hadjuk Split.

From Austria’s   Bundesliga:

•  Alexander Zickler with 15 goals for Salzburg.

From Switzerland’s  Super League:

• Hakan Yakın with 16 goals for Young Boys.

From Romania’s   Liga 1:

•   Gheorghe Bucur with 15 goals for Poliehnica Timisora.

Soccer Manager would like to know who you think will claim the European Golden Shoe this year?

Posted in: World Soccer News

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