Why did Gyokeres surpass Mbappe to win the 2025 Gerd Muller award?

At the 2025 Ballon d'Or gala, striker Viktor Gyokeres was named the winner of the Gerd Muller award, recognizing the highest goal scorer across Europe for the 2024/25 season.

Wearing the Sporting Lisbon jersey and representing the Swedish national team, Gyokeres had a breakout season scoring an impressive 54 goals in 52 matches across all competitions. Specifically, in the Primeira Liga (Portugal’s top division), he netted 39 goals, leading the scoring charts and playing a crucial role in Sporting winning the league and cup double.

Thanks to this extraordinary scoring rate, Gyokeres was honored with the Gerd Muller award, established in 2021 to celebrate the player with the most goals in a season, combining club and national team tallies.

Although Gyokeres scored more goals overall, Kylian Mbappe was the one who won the 2025 European Golden Shoe. This outcome stems from the unique point calculation method used for this award.

According to MARCA, goals scored in the top five European leagues (England, Spain, Germany, Italy, France) are multiplied by a factor of 2 points per goal. Meanwhile, goals in other leagues, including Portugal, count as 1.5 points each. Therefore, Mbappe’s 31 goals in La Liga earned more points than Gyokeres’ 39 goals in the Primeira Liga.

As a result, Mbappe surpassed Mohamed Salah to become Europe’s top scorer, receiving the Golden Shoe awarded by European Sports Media (ESM).

The difference between these two awards lies in their scoring criteria. The Gerd Muller award is given to the player with the highest number of goals in a season, counting both club and national team goals, regardless of the league. The European Golden Shoe is based on a weighted scoring system reflecting the difficulty of the league, aiming to more accurately represent the competitiveness of different top divisions.

Before Gyokeres, stars like Robert Lewandowski (2021, 2022), Erling Haaland (2023), Kylian Mbappe, and Harry Kane (2024) have been honored with the Gerd Muller award. Gyokeres joining this list not only confirms his elite status at Sporting but also places the Swedish striker among Europe’s most feared goal scorers.

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