Darko Lemajic is ahead of Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland in the race for Europe’s Golden Boot. It might sound unlikely, but it’s true. The 32-year-old Serbian forward, who plays for Rigas FS in Latvia, has scored 28 goals in the 2025/26 season and leads the standings with 28 points. Mbappé and Haaland, with 13 goals each, have 26 points and share second place. The difference isn’t about talent but about the UEFA scoring system, which awards two points per goal in the top five leagues and one point in all others. And that’s how Lemajic, scoring goals that “count for less,” sits above the biggest soccer stars in Europe.
The leader who came from the cold
While Haaland scored twice in Manchester City’s 3–1 win over Bournemouth, and Mbappé did the same in Real Madrid’s 4–0 victory against Valencia, Lemajic also found the net. The Serbian forward scored one of the goals in Rigas FS’s 3–1 win over Super Nova in the Latvian league. Over the last four matches, he’s scored seven times. Simple and consistent, that’s the formula that’s taken him to the top of Europe’s scoring charts, even while playing in a league that gets little attention.
The math helps explain it, but not entirely. Each of Haaland’s and Mbappé’s goals is worth two points; Lemajic’s are worth one. Still, he leads with 28 — two more than the giants from City and Real. It’s a small detail that proves soccer still has room for surprises. In a continent dominated by superstars, a forward from a modest Latvian club has done what seemed impossible: surpass the two most celebrated players on the planet.
A veteran who just keeps scoring
Lemajic isn’t the kind of player who usually makes international headlines. Trained in Serbian soccer, he’s played for clubs like Indija, Napredak Krusevac, Gent, and Riga before joining Rigas FS. He’s never played in one of Europe’s elite leagues but has built a steady, hard-working career. At 32, he’s in the best form of his life. He’s the key figure for a team that leads its domestic competition and piles up goals with an ease that even surprises those who follow him closely.
The difference between him and the stars who dominate the spotlight isn’t effort — it’s the stage. Lemajic doesn’t play in packed stadiums filled with tourists or sign multimillion-dollar endorsement deals. He plays in the Latvian cold, on smaller pitches, but with the same hunger for goals. And it’s that hunger that’s put him ahead of Mbappé and Haaland, even if only for a while.