From the last 10 European Golden Shoe winners, only one of them has managed to win the Ballon d'Or which isn't a great omen for Liverpool's Mohamed Salah.
The Egyptian forward is currently miles clear at the top of the scoring charts in 2024-25, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he's the favourite to win the Ballon d'Or.
Here are the last 10 European Golden Shoe winners and where they all finished in the Ballon d'Or in that select year.
2023-24 – Harry Kane – 10th in Ballon d'Or
Despite not winning any silverware, Kanye enjoyed a prolific debut season at Bayern Munich where he scored 36 league goals and won the European Golden Shoe in the process.
However, his lack of trophies did cost him severely when it came to the Ballon d'Or in 2024. Despite scoring more goals than any other player in Europe, he only finished 10th in the final rankings with 201 points.
2022-23 – Erling Haaland – 2nd in Ballon d'Or
For some, Haaland was robbed of the 2023 Ballon d'Or after his record-breaking debut season at Manchester City.
The Norwegian forward scored 36 goals in the Premier League – setting a new record in the process. He also won the treble, scoring a whopping 52 goals across all competitions.
However, Lionel Messi's heroics in the 2022 World Cup managed to sway Ballon d'Or voters and Haaland narrowly missed out on the prize.
2021-22 – Robert Lewandowski – 4th in Ballon d'Or
While Lewandowski's numbers were impressive in 2021-22, he was ultimately overshadowed by Karim Benzema who carried Real Madrid to the Champions League.
The Polish forward did score more goals than Benzema that year, but the Frenchman's impact in the later stages of the Champions League swung the Ballon d'Or towards him.
Lewandowski ultimately finished fourth in the rankings that year, behind Benzema, Sadio Mane and Kevin De Bruyne.
2020-21 – Robert Lewandowski – 2nd in Ballon d'Or
Lewandowski also won the European Golden Shoe in 2020-21, but lost the Ballon d'Or to Messi who had just won Copa America with Argentina.
The former Bayern star collected 580 voting points and finished just 33 points behind Messi in the rankings.
2019-20 – Ciro Immobile – N/A
Immobile scored 36 league goals for Lazio in 2019-20, but didn't get the chance to claim a Ballon d'Or rank as the award was cancelled that year due to Covid.
In all likelihood, Lewandowski would have won the Ballon d'Or that year, but we reckon Immobile could've been good for a top-10 finish.
2018-19 – Lionel Messi – 1st in Ballon d'Or
That's right, the last time that the European Golden Shoe winner also won the Ballon d'Or was all the way back in 2019.
Messi scored 36 league goals for Barcelona that season and almost singlehandedly dragged Ernesto Valverde's side to a treble.
Virgil van Dijk was his main Ballon d'Or rival that year, but he just about managed to claim the award over the Dutch centre-half.
2017-18 – Lionel Messi – 5th in Ballon d'Or
Messi scored 34 league goals in 2017-18 and won La Liga at a canter with Barcelona.
However, the individual awards in 2018 were heavily influenced by the World Cup and Messi ultimately finished fifth in the overall Ballon d'Or rankings.
Despite scoring the most goals in Europe, he finished behind Luka Modric, Cristiano Ronaldo, Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe.
READ: 2025 Ballon d'Or power rankings: Salah falls off top spot after Champions League heartbreak…
2016-17 – Lionel Messi – 2nd in Ballon d'Or
Messi scored considerably more goals than Ronaldo in 2016-17, but Barcelona's lack of major silverware cost him from winning many individual awards.
Ronaldo scored 12 fewer league goals than Messi that season, but still finished 276 points ahead of him in the Ballon d'Or.
2015-16 – Luis Suarez – 4th in Ballon d'Or
Suarez was a goalscoring machine in 2015-16, as he even managed to outgun the likes of Messi and Ronaldo.
The Uruguayan scored 40 goals in La Liga alone, but even that ridiculous tally was only good enough to earn him the 4th spot in the Ballon d'Or.
2014-15 – Cristiano Ronaldo – 2nd in Ballon d'Or
Surprisingly, 2014-15 was the last time that Ronaldo ever won the European Golden Shoe.
He enjoyed an excellent individual season, scoring 48 league goals, but was ultimately overshadowed by Barcelona and Messi who won the treble that year.
Despite CR7 putting Real Madrid on his back in 2014-15, his lack of silverware saw him lose out on the Ballon d'Or to Messi.