Beth Mead is chasing history this summer when England step onto the pitch in Switzerland.
She is looking to become the first English player to win the Golden Boot in back-to-back major international tournaments, something the likes of Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer failed to do.
Mead was the winner of the Golden Boot award at the last Women’s Euros in 2022 but scored the same amount of goals as German striker Alexandra Popp, both having scored six goals. But who are the other players to have won the award down the years, including one of Mead’s former England teammates?
Every Golden Boot winner from the women's Euros
1984 - Pia Sundhage (Sweden) – 4 goals
The first official women’s European Championship saw Sweden crowned champions after defeating both Italy and England over two legs, home and away.
It makes it impressive that Sundhage managed to hit four goals in just as many games. For good measure she even went and scored the decisive spot-kick in the eventual penalty shootout in the final, as Sweden were crowned champions.
1987 – Trude Stendal (Norway) – 3 goals
As the title of European champion stayed in Scandinavia – Norway were crowned champions after a 2-1 win over Sweden in Oslo - so did the Golden Boot title.
Trude Stendal scored two of her three goals that night, to become the hero in the final. She later re-trained as a nurse when a leg injury in 1991 caused her premature retirement from the game.
1989 - Sissel Grude (Norway) & Ursula Lohn (West Germany) – 2 goals
With the tournament still in the era of just four teams competing in the actual finals (semi-final and a final) just two goals were enough for Grude and Lohn to share the golden boot.
Lohn’s double came in the final where West Germany triumphed with a 4-1 win over the Norwegians.
1991 - Heidi Mohr (Germany) – 4 goals
The first modern Women’s Euros again saw Germany take the title. Heidi Mohr notched a brace in both the semi-final and final to finish off as top scorer.
A player built for the big occasion, Mohr would also score 11 goals across two World Cups and one Olympic Games during a glittering international career.
1995 - Lena Videkull (Sweden) – 3 goals
Not many Golden Boot winners through history can claim to have scored all their goals after coming on as a substitute.
But that’s exactly what Lena Videkull did. After coming off the bench in the semi-final against Norway, she hit a 17 minute hat-trick, in a 4-1 win.
Sweden went on to lose the final against Germany, but Videkull finished as the Championships top scorer.
1997 - Carolina Morace (Italy), Marianne Pettersen (Norway), Angélique Roujas (France) – 4 goals
Like the Golden Boot at the last men’s Euros, this was a shared title, with three players tied on four goals.
Petterson’s four goals all came in one game – a 5-0 win over Denmark. Morace could have claimed the title outright in the final, but failed to score in Italy’s 2-0 defeat to Germany.
2001 – Claudia Muller (Germany), Sandra Smisek (Germany) – 3 goals
Germany’s fifth Euros title in-a-row saw the sides’ two forwards share the top scorer award.
Smisek was in pole position going into the final against Sweden, but was substituted in the second half, replaced by Muller.
After a 0-0 draw after 90 minutes, the game went to extra-time where Muller struck the only goal to move onto three goals for the tournament.
2005 – Inka Grings (Germany) – 4 goals
With 96 caps and a multiple Euros winner, Grings is one of the best strikers in German history.
Her first of two Golden Boots came on English soil in 2005. Grings scored a brace in the semi-final against Finland, before opening the scoring against Norway in the final at Ewood Park.
2009 – Inka Grings (Germany) – 6 goals
Germany’s seventh European crown was achieved by scoring 21 goals along the way. Six of these went to Grings, who became the first player in women’s Euro history to retain the Golden Boot.
Grings netted a brace in the final, scoring twice after the hour mark as Germany thrashed England 6-2 in the Lionesses' first major final of the modern era.
2013 - Lotta Schelin (Sweden) - 5 goals
For the first time in four tournaments, a German player didn’t finish as top scorer. After three goals in the group stage, a brace against Iceland gave Sweden’s Lotta Schelin the Golden Boot.
Her teammate Nilla Fischer claimed runner-up spot with three goals, all scored within the first two group games.
Sweden narrowly missed out on the final with a 1-0 defeat to Germany, who would retain their title.
2017 – Jodie Taylor (England) – 5 goals
Following in the footsteps of Lineker and Shearer, Jodie Taylor became the third England player – men’s or women’s – to win a golden boot at major tournament.
Taylor hit a hat-trick in the Lionesses opening game, as Mark Sampson’s side beat Scotland 6-0. Further strikes against Spain and then the winner against France saw Taylor finish with five goals.
She ended up one clear of Vivianne Miedema, with her Netherlands team winning the tournament on home soil.
2022 – Beth Mead (England) – 6 goals
Beth Mead kickstarted England’s successful Euros campaign by notching the winner against Austria in a nervy 1-0 win in the opening game at Old Trafford.
Then scoring a hat-trick in an 8-0 thrashing of Norway, Mead also netted against Northern Ireland and in the semi-final win over Sweden.
Mead was actually level with German Alexandra Popp on six goals going into the final at Wembley between the two sides. But a Golden Boot showdown was ruled out when Popp was injured in the warm-up.
Although Mead didn’t score in the final, which England won 2-1 after extra-time, she was the sole winner of the award, with UEFA enforcing the tiebreaker rules of assist count. Mead had five assists to Popp’s none.
