In football (soccer), the Belgian Golden Shoe (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 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.
The first foreigner to win the trophy was Dutch Johan Boskamp, especially for his excellence during the second half of the 1984-85 season, when his club, R.W.D. Molenbeek won its first and last (the club is now defunct) championship title. Paul Van Himst has collected 4 Belgian Golden Shoe which is the current record.
Palmares
References
- Belgian Football Association official website - page on the Golden Shoe