The Golden Foot award is an international football honor presented to players who distinguish out for their athletic exploits (as individuals and as team players) as well as their personalities. The award was created in France by French newspaper Le Journal de la Table Ronde (now named Le Journal du Dimanche). It is given annually (except when sports events are not held due to world wars or other conflicts) to a player who has shown exceptional talent while still being young, at his peak of physical condition, and who has had a significant influence on the development of soccer around the world.
The award consists of one gold foot placed in clay, symbolizing peace, and one silver foot placed in glass, symbolizing freedom. The recipient receives $100,000 (USD), the money coming from the will of Edmond Richard, a wealthy Parisian merchant who died in 1909. The award ceremony is held each year on or near January 1st, which is also known as New Year's Day worldwide.
The first player awarded the Golden Foot prize was Gabriel Batistuta, a center forward who played for Argentina's national team from 1978 to 1994 and who is considered one of the best strikers in the history of the game. He won several individual awards, including the Ballon d'Or twice.
The European Golden Shoe, sometimes known as the European Golden Boot, is an award given each season to the highest goal scorer in each European national league's premier level. The award is a football boot sculpture. It was created by Italian company Exalte, and its design has been adopted by Nike as one of their World Football Collection products.
The award was established in 1956 by the newspaper Il Giorno (now called Il Giornale) as a means of encouraging more scoring in Italian football. Before this date, the top scorers were awarded with gold medals but from 1957 onwards they received golden boots as a prize. In 2001, the award was expanded to include all of Europe's major leagues. In addition to the top goalscorer award, there is also a Young Player of the Year award; this is chosen by journalists and coaches from across Europe.
The highest number of winners came from Italy where several players have won the award twice: Agostino Giovagnoli, Pietro Anastasi, Gianfranco Zola. Brazil has the most winners with 13 while Scotland only has two players who have won the award: George Best and Kenny Dalglish. The award is not given out annually so it can go for many years without being won.
The Golden Boot or Golden Shoe Award is given to the FIFA World Cup's outstanding goal scorer. While there was a rating of goal scorers at every World Cup, the first time an award was handed was in 1982, under the moniker "Golden Shoe."
The award is based on how many goals you score during the tournament. If you score multiple goals in one game it will count for only one goal.
There have been several methods used to decide the winner. In fact, there have been as many winners as there have been finalists: Zico van Dijkman won three times; Pele, Alfred Jarryd Hirschfield and Ruud Gullit each won twice. The current leader is Lionel Messi with five awards out of six possible wins.
The award was created by soccer statisticians Gordon Saville and Peter Filiau to address the problem of players scoring lots of goals without having much impact in other areas of the field. Before this award, there was no way to distinguish between good shooters and great passers. Now, even if they are in the same team, we can know which player was the best scorer.
The award was first given in the 1982 World Cup when Gordon Saville and Peter Filiau from the Football Association published their ratings of goal scorers right before each tournament.
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