We have a new leader at the top of the ESM Golden Shoe standings, with Napoli’s Gonzalo Higuain moving ahead of Borussia Dortmund’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Two goals for Higuain in his side’s’s 3-1 win over Sassuolo, not only took Napoli to the top of the Serie A table, but also took the Argentinian striker four points clear of long term Golden Shoe leader Aubameyang.

The other big mover in the top ten was Luis Suarez who scored a hat-trick in Barcelona’s 6-0 demolition of Athletic Bilbao. Suarez, Europe’s joint leading goalsscorer in 2013-14, has now scored 18 goals for the season, and sits level with Benfica’s Jonas in joint third spot in the standings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_MxAV0FfQU

Elsewhere in the top ten, two goals apiece for Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema and four-time ESM Golden Shoe winner, Cristiano Ronaldo, took the pair to 15 goals for the season, five behind the leader Higuain.

POS PLAYER TEAM GOALS FACTOR PTS
1. Gonzalo Higuaín (Napoli) 20 x 2 = 40
2. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund) 18 x 2 = 36
‘Jonas’ Goncalves (Benfica) 18 x 2 = 36
Luis Suárez (Barcelona) 18 x 2 = 36
5. Nemanja Nikolic (Legia Warsaw) 22 x 1,5 = 33
‘Alex Teixeira‘ Santos (Shakhtar Donetsk) 22 x 1,5 = 33
7. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) 16 x 2 = 32
‘Neymar’ da Silva Santos (Barcelona) 16 x 2 = 32
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 16 x 2 = 32
10. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Münich) 15 x 2 = 30
Romelu Lukaku (Everton) 15 x 2 = 30
Jamie Vardy (Leicester City) 15 x 2 = 30
Eran Zahavi (Maccabi Tel Aviv) 20 x 1,5 = 30
14. Odion Ighalo (Watford) 14 x 2 = 28
Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich) 14 x 2 = 28
Tomas Radzinevicius (FK Süduva Marijampole) 28 x 1 = 28
Islam Slimani (Sporting) 14 x 2 = 28
18. Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) 13 x 2 = 26
Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City) 13 x 2 = 26
20. Fernando Cavenaghi (APOEL Nicosia) 17 x 1,5 = 25,5
21. David Arshakyan (FK Trakai) 25 x 1 = 25
Richard Towell (Dundalk) 25 x 1 = 25
23. Imanol Agirretxe (Real Sociedad) 12 x 2 = 24
Olivier Giroud (Arsenal) 12 x 2 = 24
Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid) 12 x 2 = 24
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain) 16 x 1,5 = 24
Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) 12 x 2 = 24
‘Lucas’ Pérez (Deportivo La Coruña) 12 x 2 = 24
Ingemar Teever (Levadia Tallinn) 24 x 1 = 24
30. Deniss Rakels (Cracovia Kraków) 15 x 1,5 = 22,5
Nikolai Yanush (Shakhtyor Saligorsk) 15 x 1,5 = 22,5
32. Aritz Adúriz (Athletic Club Bilbao) 11 x 2 = 22
Paulo Dybala (Juventus) 11 x 2 = 22
‘Eder’ Citadin (Sampdoria) 11 x 2 = 22
Kévin Gameiro (Sevilla) 11 x 2 = 22
Gerard Gohou (FC Kairat Almaty) 22 x 1 = 22
Javier Hernández (Bayer Leverkusen) 11 x 2 = 22
Alexander Søderlund (Rosenborg BK) 22 x 1 = 22
39. Luuk de Jong (PSV Eindhoven) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Emir Kujovic (IFK Norrköping) 21 x 1 = 21
Klaemint Olsen (NSÍ Runavik) 21 x 1 = 21
Jonatan Soriano (Red Bull Salzburg) 14 x 1,5 = 21
Lukas Spalvis (Aalborg BK) 14 x 1,5 = 21
44. Sergio Agüero (Manchester City) 10 x 2 = 20
‘Léo Bonatini’ Lohner Maia (GD Estoril-Praia) 10 x 2 = 20
‘Borja’ González Tomás (Eibar) 10 x 2 = 20
Nikola Kalinic (Fiorentina) 10 x 2 = 20
Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 10 x 2 = 20
Andrei Panyukov (FK Atlantas Klaipeda) 20 x 1 = 20
Leonardo Pavoletti (Genoa) 10 x 2 = 20
Arturas Rimkevicius (Stumbras Kaunas) 20 x 1 = 20
52. Samuel Eto’o Fils (Antalyaspor) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
Apostolos Giannou (Asteras Tripolis) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
Mario Gomez (Besiktas) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
Marc Janko (FC Basel) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
Dirk Kuyt (Feyenoord) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
Ilija Nestorovski (Inter Zapresic) 13 x 1,5 = 19,5
58. Jaroslav Kvasov (Sillamäe Kalev) 19 x 1 = 19
59. ‘Paco Alcácer’ García (Valencia) 9 x 2 = 18
‘André Alves’ dos Santos (AEK Larnaca) 12 x 1,5 = 18
‘Iago Aspas’ Juncal (Celta Vigo) 9 x 2 = 18
Carlos Bacca (Milan) 9 x 2 = 18
Michy Batshuayi (Marseille) 12 x 1,5 = 18
Jermaine Defoe (Sunderland) 9 x 2 = 18
Kostas Fortounis (Olympiakos) 12 x 1,5 = 18
Henok Goitom (AIK Solna) 18 x 1 = 18
Javi Guerra Rodríguez (Rayo Vallecano) 9 x 2 = 18
Ioan Hora (Pandurii Târgu Jiu) 12 x 1,5 = 18
Josip Ilicic (Fiorentina) 9 x 2 = 18
Salomon Kalou (Hertha Berlin) 9 x 2 = 18
Bruno Daniel Moreira (Paços de Ferreira) 9 x 2 = 18
Dino Ndlovu (Anorthosis Famagusta) 12 x 1,5 = 18
Christian Santos (NEC Nijmegen) 12 x 1,5 = 18
Hyun-Jun Suk (Vitória Setúbal/FC Porto) 9 x 2 = 18
Georginio Wijnaldum (Newcastle United) 9 x 2 = 18

Standings last updated 18/01/2016

Rules

Only the leading five countries – Spain, Italy, Germany, England and Portugal – in the UEFA rankings have two as their multiplier. This is to emphasise the difference in (international) performance level between clubs from those countries and those of other nations.A player cannot play first in a summer league (e.g. Norway) and then in a winter league (e.g. Spain) and combine the points totals for each season.