Sports
Who’s the striker beating Mbappé, Haaland in race for European Golden Shoe?
Last week saw Kylian Mbappé finally become the proud recipient of the European Golden Shoe award that he actually won months ago by finishing as the top goal scorer of the continent’s top divisions in the 2024-25 season.
Having officially claimed the award back in May, the France striker was belatedly presented with his trophy before Real Madrid‘s LaLiga fixture against Valencia last weekend.
Mbappé scored 31 league goals last campaign to ensure that he added his name to a star-studded list of previous European Golden Shoe winners. He also became only the third Blancos player to earn the prestigious award behind club idols Hugo Sánchez and Cristiano Ronaldo, who claimed the award three times as a Madrid player and once with Manchester United.
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A whole host of other elite goal scorers have also won the Golden Shoe since its inception in 1967-68, with Eusébio taking the inaugural prize before the likes of Gerd Müller, Marco van Basten, Hristo Stoichkov, Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, Robert Lewandowski and Harry Kane, who won the award in 2023-24.
However, for all the heavyweights to have hoisted the Golden Shoe in the past, the chase for the 2025-26 award is not being led by Erling Haaland or Mbappé, but by a comparatively obscure striker by the name of Darko Lemajic, who plays in Latvia with Rigas Futbola Skola (RFS) and is narrowly ahead of his rivals in the race.
The 32-year-old is currently leading the pursuit for the 2025-26 European Golden Boot this season, having scored 28 goals already. However, the Latvian Virsliga is essentially a summer league that usually runs between March and November. Therefore, Lemajic has had 35 league games to amass his impressive tally while the likes of Haaland, Mbappé et al are roughly only 10 games into their domestic campaigns.
How the European Golden Shoe award works
It’s also necessary to take the manner in which the European Golden Shoe leaderboard is calculated into account. Rather than the outright number of goals scored by an individual player, since 1997 the award has been decided using a weighted points system that assigns various difficulty multipliers based on the perceived competitiveness of the league in question.
Using UEFA’s coefficient rankings, the system dictates that goals scored by a player in one of Europe’s “top five” leagues were scored in more challenging circumstances and are therefore multiplied by a factor of two and converted into points. Goals scored in European league competitions further down the coefficient rankings (between 6-22) are multiplied by a factor of 1.5, whereas goals scored in leagues thereunder (22 and below) are multiplied by a factor of 1.
That means that Lemajic’s 28 goals in the Virsliga are worth 28 points in the standings (having been multiplied by one) and Haaland and Mbappé’s 13 goals apiece are worth 26 points, having been multiplied by two. So the latter pair are already just two points behind the RFS target man despite having scored fewer than half as many goals.
It is also why an inordinate number of players from the Scandinavian leagues are nestled in the top 10, as they also largely play to summer schedules with many of their seasons having already come to a close ahead of the cold winter months.
Lemajic still has one league game of his season to play, meaning he could well add to his tally before things wrap up over in the Latvian top flight.
Below is a rundown of the top 10 as it stands.
10. Harry Kane, Bayern Munich (12 goals, 24 points)
Carrying on his incredible form from last season, Kane has 12 league goals in just nine Bundesliga games this season, meaning that he is likely to ascend the 2025-26 European Golden Shoe leaderboard in the weeks and months to come. Should the England captain successfully maintain his formidable domestic goal-scoring rate, there is every chance he can reclaim the award from Mbappé come the final count.
9. Nahir Besara, Hammarby IF (17 goals, 25.5 points)
Hammarby are second in the Swedish Allsvenskan with one matchday still to play and Besara is one of three players who are level at the top of the league’s goal-scoring charts. The 34-year-old’s goals, however, have not been enough to prevent the Stockholm club, which is co-owned by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, from finishing a distance behind upstart minnows Mjällby AIF, who claimed the 2025 title in sensational fashion.
8. Ibrahim Diabate, GAIS (17 goals, 25.5 points)
The second of the three players atop the Allsvenskan goal-scoring charts, Diabate has 17 goals for GAIS, who will finish third narrowly behind Hammarby and therefore qualify for the UEFA Conference League qualifying round as a result.
7. August Priske, Djurgården (17 goals, 25.5 points)
The third and final striker from the 2025 Allsvenskan Golden Boot race, Denmark under-20 international Priske hit 17 goals for Djurgården.
6. Kasper Høgh, Bodo/Glimt (17 goals, 25.5 points)
With the Norwegian Eliteserien running between May and November like many Scandinavian leagues, Høgh is joint-level top scorer in the 2025 with a handful of games remaining. His Bodo/Glimt side are currently one point behind leaders Viking FK at the top of the table with time running out, despite having led the way for the majority of the campaign.
5. Daniel Karlsbakk, Sarpsborg FK (17 goals, 25.5 points)
Karlsbakk is the man level-pegging with Høgh in the race for Eliteserien Golden Boot, though Sarpsborg’s campaign has been far less dramatic with the club — which was only formed 17 years ago — bobbing around in ninth place with just four fixtures remaining.
4. Klaemint Olsen, NSI Runavik (26 goals, 26 points)
There’s every chance you’re not au fait with the manner in which the 2025 Faroe Islands Premier League season played out, but we’re here to inform you that Runavik finished third, some 13 points behind eventual title winners KI Klaksvik. They can at least take some solace in the fact that their star striker Olsen managed to comfortably outscore KI’s Pall Klettskard to power his way to the top of the scoring charts.
3. Kylian Mbappé, Real Madrid (13 goals, 26 points)
With just 11 games played this season, Mbappé looks to be taking his defense of the European Golden Shoe seriously. The 26-year-old France international is already six goals clear of his closest rival at the peak of the LaLiga scoring chart for 2025-26 after finding the net at least once in each of his last eight consecutive league outings for Los Blancos.
2. Erling Haaland, Manchester City (13 goals, 26 points)
Another huge talent who is scoring for fun this season, Haaland has made it his business to mercilessly bully Premier League defenders over the course of the 2025-26 season so far, scoring 11 goals in 13 league games for City. As if to further cement his credentials, the Norway international is also on the brink of becoming the fastest player ever to reach 100 Premier League goals, with another brace enough to smash Alan Shearer’s 30-year-old record.
1. Darko Lemajic, Rigas Futbola Skola (28 goals, 28 points)
Standing at 6-foot-6, Lemajic is an imposing striker who has definitely made his presence felt in the Latvian top flight. The Serbian is in his second stint with Rigas Futbola Skola having spent a couple of years in Belgium with KAA Gent, but spent the 2025 season scoring for fun as his side finished runners-up, within five points of eventual title-winners Riga FC. So potent was Lemajic that he actually scored twice as many goals as the next best marksman in the league, with Ingars Pulis of FK Tukums 2000 scoring 16 goals to finish second in the running.
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When the NASCAR Cup Series went to Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600 in 2025, Ross Chastain got into Victory Lane after closing at +1800 to be the outright winner.
Chastain’s impressive win came after leading only eight laps on the day.
Which driver will take the checkered flag when the series goes back to Charlotte Motor Speedway on Memorial Day Weekend for one of NASCAR’s Crown Jewels?
Here are the odds at DraftKings Sportsbook as of May 24.
This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports.
NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600
Denny Hamlin: +380 (bet $10 to win $48 total)
Tyler Reddick: +500 (bet $10 to win $60 total)
Kyle Larson: +800 (bet $10 to win $90 total)
Christopher Bell: +800 (bet $10 to win $90 total)
Chase Briscoe: +1000 (bet $10 to win $110 total)
William Byron: +1100 (bet $10 to win $120 total)
Carson Hocevar: +1100 (bet $10 to win $120 total)
Ryan Blaney: +1400 (bet $10 to win $150 total)
Chase Elliott: +1400 (bet $10 to win $150 total)
Brad Keselowski: +1800 (bet $10 to win $190 total)
Ty Gibbs: +2000 (bet $10 to win $210 total)
Ross Chastain: +2200 (bet $10 to win $230 total)
Chris Buescher: +2500 (bet $10 to win $260 total)
Bubba Wallace: +2800 (bet $10 to win $290 total)
Alex Bowman: +2800 (bet $10 to win $290 total)
Austin Dillon: +4000 (bet $10 to win $410 total)
Joey Logano: +4500 (bet $10 to win $460 total)
Connor Zilisch: +4500 (bet $10 to win $460 total)
Austin Hill: +4500 (bet $10 to win $460 total)
Austin Cindric: +5500 (bet $10 to win $560 total)
Ryan Preece: +9000 (bet $10 to win $910 total)
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: +9000 (bet $10 to win $910 total)
Michael McDowell: +9000 (bet $10 to win $910 total)
Corey Heim: +9000 (bet $10 to win $910 total)
Erik Jones: +10000 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)
Shane van Gisbergen: +13000 (bet $10 to win $1,310 total)
AJ Allmendinger: +15000 (bet $10 to win $1,510 total)
Daniel Suarez: +17000 (bet $10 to win $1,710 total)
Josh Berry: +18000 (bet $10 to win $1,810 total)
John Hunter Nemechek: +25000 (bet $10 to win $2,510 total)
Zane Smith: +35000 (bet $10 to win $3,510 total)
Ty Dillon: +50000 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Noah Gragson: +50000 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Todd Gilliland: +60000 (bet $10 to win $6,010 total)
Riley Herbst: +60000 (bet $10 to win $6,010 total)
Cole Custer: +80000 (bet $10 to win $8,010 total)
Katherine Legge: +90000 (bet $10 to win $9,010 total)
Timmy Hill: +100000 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Cody Ware: +100000 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Here’s what to know about the oddsboard:
The Favorite
Denny Hamlin is coming in hot off an All-Star Race win at Dover. And while it wasn’t a points race, coming into Charlotte after starting from the pole and leading 103 laps in last week’s exhibition could give him the momentum he needs to grab the checkered flag at the Coke 600. His first and only win at this race came in 2022. In 2025, he started 20th but finished 16th after posting the best lap of the day at 29.37 and leading 53 laps.
One to Watch
Tyler Reddick is having an incredible season. He’s gotten into Victory Lane five times, including the first three races of the year. Cup qualifying got rained out, so Reddick will start from the pole today at Charlotte in accordance with league rules. On the season, Reddick has led 201 laps and has eight finishes in the top five. In 2025, he finished the Coca-Cola 600 26th after leading only one lap.
Sports
WWE Hall of Famer Nikki Bella opens up about what she wants fans to remember her for when she retires
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One of the best things to debate amongst friends is where professional athletes of a particular sport rank all time. Some make top 10 lists, others go by the Mount Rushmore rule.
Pro wrestling fans are no different. Championships, legacy and impact on the sport matter to those who take the time to watch wrestling 3-6 times per week for decades. How pro wrestlers are remembered by their fans is important to them.
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Nikki Bella confronts Becky Lynch during Monday Night RAW at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Aug. 4, 2025. (Michael Marques/WWE)
For WWE Hall of Famer Nikki Bella, she suggested in an interview with Fox News Digital that her championship accolades should be put aside. Using her voice to have an effect on someone watching her in an arena or at home is more important.
“I would love definitely to be remembered as fearless, as someone who wasn’t scared to use her voice, someone who wasn’t scared to pave the ways, someone who wasn’t scared to stand up to all the hate, who can still be her even when people try to tear you down,” Bella said, who became the Chief Margarita Officer for Madam Paleta Tequila earlier in the week. “What I’ve realized, and this is in any industry and this is throughout time, it’s never easy to be first or be the loudest about something. And there’s so many people who helped pave the way before us but when you’re at the forefront or when you’re at the face of that, you take on everything that comes with it – hate, love, support, everything.
WWE STAR LIV MORGAN OPENS UP ABOUT HER LEGACY, WHAT SHE WANTS TO BE REMEMBERED FOR
Nikki Bella returns to Monday Night RAW at PHX Arena in Phoenix, Ariz., on June 9, 2025. (Craig Ambrosio/WWE)
“I think that’s where I truly live up to being ‘Fearless’ Nikki, I just don’t stop. Even when I’m not at my best or when I’m at my greatest. I hope at the end of the day, people can look back and respect that too – even the ones who can be so disrespectful. They see things in such a different way and they really just don’t know. I hope to be remembered as that over anything.”
Bella said she understood that fans will look at her titles and accolades overall when she eventually decides to step away from action for good.
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She was a two-time Divas champion, including holding the championship for a record 300 days, and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame with her sister, Brie Bella, in 2020.
She stressed, however, that the impact she made was held in high regard above everything else.
“I get some people get hooked on champion numbers, like 13 time, 10 time, five time, you know, for me, it’s always been about impact,” she told Fox News Digital. “And if the people tuning in, I was able to change some people’s lives. Maybe they were being raised in a not great home and I gave them the ability to be fearless and to use their voice to know they could be someone great one day, to me, that’s being a champion and that’s what I’d love to be more than anything. I look at my Bella Army and they are my true accomplishment.
Nikki Bella addresses the crowd during SmackDown at Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, Ariz., on March 13, 2026. (Bradlee Rutledge/WWE)
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“That is better than any championship I could ever win, ever.”
SYDNEY: As Twenty20 cricket competitions explode around the world, Australia’s Big Bash League is struggling to chart a vision for the future, after plans to privatise its franchises stalled.
Cricket Australia chief Todd Greenberg is adamant that outside investment is necessary to shore up the game’s financial future and keep pace with a boom in other well-funded leagues played in a similar time slot.
They include the UAE’s ILT20, South Africa’s SA20, and New Zealand’s privately-backed NZ20 scheduled to start in December 2027, all bidding for the best local and overseas players.
“If those salary caps (of other leagues) are significantly higher than ours over the coming years, and players can earn more in those areas, then players will follow those. That’s a real risk to us,” Greenberg told local media.
“I want to make sure that for Australian cricket, our ambition is to have a league that runs at the key part of the year for us, which is the December-January window, and it’s the best T20 league in the world at that moment in time.
“To do that, we have to have a significant amount of money in our salary caps to attract not only the best players from overseas, but to retain and attract our own best players.”
He added: “The concept of bringing private capital to cricket is inevitable at some point.”
While not a direct competitor as it runs in a different window, the benchmark Indian Premier League has seen massive success thanks to wealthy benefactors, with England’s The Hundred also on a roll after an influx of private capital.
But it is a thorny issue in Australia with an initial proposal to sell stakes in each of BBL’s eight teams stalling last month amid concerns about a loss of control for the game’s local custodians.
While the Victorian, Western Australian and Tasmanian cricket associations voiced support and South Australia said it was open to the idea, New South Wales and Queensland rejected the move.
Queensland Cricket, which controls the Brisbane Heat, said it was worried about player payments skyrocketing to unsustainable levels, and that private owners may not be as invested in the grassroots game.
Cricket NSW, which operates the Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder, was similarly concerned that it could be detrimental to how the sport is governed and how local players are produced.
‘Sugar hit’
There are also fears about an Indian takeover, with the most likely buyers seen as the rich IPL team owners who have invested in other short-form competitions around the globe.
Former Australian captain Greg Chappell is in the “No” camp, arguing that the BBL belongs to the states and communities that have built it into a successful and well-attended product.
While acknowledging the commercial realities, he said selling it off was not the answer.
“The moment you introduce private ownership at scale, you introduce a set of priorities that may not always align with the long-term health of the game,” he wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.
“Private investors, however well-intentioned, answer to shareholders, not to Australian cricket.”
Andrew Jones, a former head of strategy at Cricket Australia who was instrumental in the launch of the BBL, is similarly unconvinced.
“A one-off sale is a sugar hit, not a solution,” he said in The Australian newspaper, arguing that revenues can be better grown through sponsorships, wagering, ticketing, and more focus on commercialising the women’s game.
Despite scepticism, Greenberg remains confident and is now eyeing a hybrid ownership model.
This would allow the BBL franchises keen to sell stakes to do so while allowing those against to maintain complete ownership.
“If we end up not going together at the same time, can we still extract the same level of revenue, and can we extract the same level of value?” he said.
“I think we can, but I’ve got to do the work to satisfy a recommendation that would ultimately go to the members and our board.”
2026 NASCAR Odds: Denny Hamlin Favored At Coca-Cola 600, Tyler Reddick Second
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