Within a week the time will come again and the winner of the Golden Shoe will be announced. Club Brugge striker Christos Tzolis is currently being put forward as the big favourite. But former winner Sven Kums indicates another top candidate.
The Golden Boot is the award for the best player of the past calendar year on Belgian fields and remains the most prestigious individual award in Belgian football. The voting takes place over two rounds. The first covers the second half of last season, the second covers the current season so far.
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Too good for Belgian competition
Players who went abroad during the summer mercato will therefore not score in the second voting round and will therefore see their chances of final victory diluted. Fortunately, several outstanding players also remained in position in the Jupiler Pro League. Tzolis, for example, who was also able to provide excellent statistics in the past calendar year.
But there are still candidates around. In an extensive interview with the organizing newspaper The Latest NewsKums, for example, drops the name of the defending champion. “If you are honest, you should always put Vanaken at the top. Hans is too good for our competition. He should actually no longer be allowed to play football in Belgium,” says the 2015 winner.
Too little at crucial moments
The Club Brugge captain has also had a strong year. Moreover, in 2025 he played a really important role for the national team for the first time and he also reached a high level in the Champions League. On the other hand, he has already won the trophy three times. The bar is automatically raised for voters.
For example, analyst Marc Degryse, final laureate in 1991, believes that he was not there enough at certain crucial moments. “Where was he in that double confrontation with Union, which determined the title? If you have already won the Golden Boot three times, you expect Vanaken to make the difference when it has to happen,” says Degryse. “For me, Vanaken doesn’t have to play that well against Dender, or against who knows who, but at the moment when he can make Club champions. So yes, when I received my form for the first voting round in the summer, I thought: ‘Hans, well… Not Efkes’.”
