Belgian Golden Shoe

In football (soccer), the Belgian Golden Shoe (Dutch: "Gouden Schoen", French: "Soulier d'Or") is an award given at the beginning of each civil year to the best footballer of the Jupiler League for the last year. The trophy is sponsored by the Belgian newspaper "Het Laatste Nieuws" ("The Last/Latest News").

The voters are a selection of Belgian press specialists and football personalities. They are invited to vote for the best player of the competition for both half seasons (previous season second half and current season first half). As a result, a player can receive all of its votes in one half season (e.g. if he joined the championship from abroad during summer), or he can receive votes for his matches with two (or more) different teams, as with Philippe Albert in 1992.

Paul Van Himst has collected 4 Belgian Golden Shoe which is the current record. The first foreigner to win the trophy was Dutchman Johan Boskamp, especially for his excellence during the second half of the 1974-75 season, when his club, RWDM won its first and last (the club is now defunct) championship title. The only foreigner who has won the award more than once is the Swede Pär Zetterberg.

Winners

References

* [http://www.footbel.be/en/Competitites/statistieken/gouden_schoen.html Golden Shoe] - Royal Belgian Football Association