The bright lights of the Ballon d’Or gala shone down on Paris, and one moment truly caught the eye. Viktor Gyökeres, the former Sporting forward who made his big move to Arsenal this summer, stepped onto the stage. He received the prestigious Gerd Müller award from none other than football legend Luís Figo. This prize celebrates the season’s top goal scorer, a big honor for any player.
Yet, this moment created a little head-scratching among fans and pundits. Didn’t Kylian Mbappé get the Golden Boot, another award for the season’s best marksman? How could two different players win “top scorer” awards for the same season? It seemed like a riddle, but the answer is actually quite straightforward once you know the rules.
The Golden Boot’s Tricky Math
The Golden Boot works on a points system, not just a simple goal count. It uses special coefficients to weigh goals differently. For example, goals scored by players in Europe’s five biggest leagues – Spain, England, Italy, France, and Germany – are worth double points. Meanwhile, goals from all other leagues are valued at 1.5 points. This system aims to reflect the perceived difficulty of scoring in different competitions.
This is exactly why Mbappé took home the Golden Boot. He netted 31 goals for Real Madrid in the Spanish League, a top-tier competition. Gyökeres, on the other hand, scored an impressive 39 goals while playing for Sporting in the Portuguese League. Because his goals had a lower coefficient, despite scoring more times, he fell behind Mbappé in the Golden Boot race.
The Straightforward Gerd Müller Award
The Gerd Müller trophy, which Gyökeres proudly held, operates on a much simpler principle. For this award, only the raw number of goals truly matters. There are no fancy calculations or league coefficients to worry about. It’s a pure count of who put the ball in the net the most times across all European competitions.
And by that measure, Gyökeres was the undisputed king. He was the absolute top scorer in European football during the 2024/25 season. So, while the Golden Boot awarded based on its unique points system, the Gerd Müller award truly recognized the player who found the back of the net more than anyone else. It simply boils down to understanding the different criteria each award uses.