Following the conclusion of Europe’s top leagues, we’ve decided to celebrate the goalscorers who defined the campaign.
From familiar faces to breakout stars, several centre-forwards thrived in European football during the 2023-24 season.
We’ve looked at top scorers from each of Europe’s top five leagues in 2023-24.
Bundesliga – Harry Kane, Bayern Munich (36 goals)
Harry Kane has become just the second player, after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, to win leading scorer accolades in the Premier League and Bundesliga.
The 30-year-old has had a record-breaking debut season at Bayern Munich, scoring 36 times in 32 appearances to finish ahead of Serhou Guirassy and Lois Openda in the race for the Torjägerkanonen award.
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— LiveScore (@livescore) May 28, 2024
Just two players, Robert Lewandowski and Gerd Muller, have ever scored more in a single Bundesliga season, with Kane’s goalscoring brilliance coming despite a disappointing campaign for Bayern, who ended the season without silverware for the first time since 2012.
Kane’s 36 league goals are the best return of his career and have earned the England captain the European Golden Shoe. He is just the second Englishman to have won the award, after Sunderland’s Kevin Phillips in 1999-00.
La Liga – Artem Dovbyk, Girona (24 goals)
Artem Dovbyk has been one of the breakout stars of the European season in a Girona team that has exceeded all expectations this season. In just their fourth season in Spain’s top tier, the Catalan club finished third in the table to secure Champions League qualification.
Their success was built around the prolific form of Dovbyk, who signed from SC Dnipro-1 for a club record fee of €7m last summer before taking Spain by storm.
???????????? Artem Dovbyk went into the final matchday of the La Liga season two goals behind Alexander Sorloth in the race for top scorer.
By scoring a hat-trick, he became the FIRST Ukrainian to win the Golden Boot. ????????
— CentreGoals. (@centregoals) May 28, 2024
The 26-year-old scored 24 goals to win the Pichichi Trophy as La Liga’s leading scorer, including a hat-trick against Granada on the final weekend to overhaul Villarreal’s Alexander Sorloth and snatch the award by a one-goal margin.
Dovbyk is the first Ukrainian since AC Milan’s Andriy Shevchenko in 2003-04 to lead one of Europe’s top five leagues for goals.
Ligue 1 – Kylian Mbappe, Paris Saint-Germain (27 goals)
Kylian Mbappe departs Paris Saint-Germain as the club’s record scorer this summer after the most prolific campaign of his career in Paris.
Mbappe scored 44 goals in all competitions, with 27 coming in Ligue 1 to win the league’s leading scorer accolade for the sixth straight season. That achievement takes the 25-year-old clear of Carlos Bianchi, Jean-Pierre Papin and French football’s record scorer, Delio Onnis, for the most seasons as Ligue 1’s top scorer.
Kylian Mbappé’s last goal at Parc des Princes ????????????️ pic.twitter.com/ODYamdtiT6
— Ligue 1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) May 12, 2024
Mbappe leaves France having scored 191 goals in 246 Ligue 1 games. Just six players have ever scored more in the division.
Premier League – Erling Haaland, Manchester City (27 goals)
Erling Haaland has become just the seventh player to retain the Premier League’s Golden Boot after scoring 27 goals during Manchester City’s title success.
Despite some suggesting the Norwegian has not been at the record-breaking levels of 2022-23, and two months of the season out injured, Haaland ended the campaign five goals clear of nearest challenger Cole Palmer.
Very honoured to win the Golden boot award again! ???????? Thank you for your endless support ???????? pic.twitter.com/qzBcM0rRCs
— Erling Haaland (@ErlingHaaland) May 20, 2024
The 23-year-old has now scored 63 goals in 66 league appearances in English football.
Premier League Golden Boot: Every player to retain the award
Serie A – Lautaro Martinez, Inter Milan (24 goals)
Lautaro Martinez fired Inter Milan to the Serie A title this season, as the Nerazzurri won the Scudetto for the 20th time in their history by a huge 19-point margin.
Martinez captained the club to their title triumph and produced the best goalscoring season of his Serie A career. The Argentina international scored 24 times in the league, earning a maiden Capocannoniere award comfortably ahead of Dusan Vlahovic (16), Victor Osimhem (15) and Olivier Giroud (15).
Serie A top scorer and 2x Scudetto winner Lautaro Martinez says he’s ‘on the same level’ as some of the games best ???? pic.twitter.com/c1tJBMe10T
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) May 25, 2024
The 26-year-old is the fourth Argentine to lead Serie A for goals since the turn of the century, following Hernan Crespo, Gonzalo Higuain, and Mauro Icardi (2).
Read – The highest points totals in Europe’s top five leagues in 2023-24
See more – Our Team of the Season for Europe’s top leagues in 2023-24