I-League Golden Boot

{{Short description|Golden boot winners in the I-League}}

{{nofootnotes|date=August 2022}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}

{{Use Indian English|date=August 2022}}

The I-League Golden Boot is an annual Indian association football award given to the top goalscorer at the end of the I-League season, the top domestic league competition in club Football in India, since its creation in 2007.

The top-scoring I-League Golden Boot winner is Ranty Martins Soleye with 32 goals in a 26-game season with Odafe Onyeka Okolie holding the record when the league was an 18-game season with 22 goals. Ranti won the award for the most times with five wins however Odafe has won the award most times for a single club, winning thrice while playing for Churchill Brothers.

Álex Sánchez of Gokulam Kerala is the latest winner of the Golden Boot. During the 2023–24 season, he scored 19 goals in 22 matches.

Recipients

As of the April 2024, 13 players have won the golden boot award. Only three player has won the award more than once with Ranti winning the award most times with five wins. Winning the golden boot though might not translate into league success as thrice once in eleven I-League seasons as the team which has the golden boot winner won the league as well and the latest was in 2015-16 when scoring leader Sunil Chhetri and his team, Bengaluru won the league.

==List of Golden Boot winners==

The following table is a list of winners of the I-League Golden Boot per season, detailing their club, goal tally, actual games played, and their strike rate (goals/games).

class="wikitable sortable"

!Season

!Winner

!Club

!Goals

!Games

!Rate

2007–08

| {{flagicon|Nigeria}} Odafe Onyeka Okolie

| Churchill Brothers

| 22

| 18

| 1.22

2008–09

| {{flagicon|Nigeria}} Odafe Onyeka Okolie

| Churchill Brothers

| 24

| 22

| 1.09

2009–10

| {{flagicon|Nigeria}} Odafe Onyeka Okolie

| Churchill Brothers

| 21

| 24

| 0.87

2010–11

| {{flagicon|Nigeria}} Ranti Martins

| Dempo

| 28

| 22

| 1.27

2011–12

| {{flagicon|Nigeria}} Ranti Martins

| Dempo

| 32

| 26

| 1.23

2012–13

| {{flagicon|Nigeria}} Ranti Martins

| Prayag United

| 26

| 25

| 1.14

rowspan="3"|2013–14

|{{flagicon|TRI}} Cornell Glen

|Shillong Lajong

|rowspan="3" |14

|19

|0.74

{{flagicon|IND}} Sunil Chhetri

|Bengaluru FC

|23

|0.61

{{flagicon|SCO}} Darryl Duffy

|Salgaocar

|24

|0.58

2014–15

|{{flagicon|NGA}} Ranti Martins

|East Bengal

|17

|20

|0.85

2015–16

|{{flagicon|NGA}} Ranti Martins

|East Bengal

|12

|13

|0.92

2016–17

|{{flagicon|CMR}} Aser Pierrick Dipanda

|Shillong Lajong

|11

|17

|0.65

2017–18

|{{flagicon|CMR}} Aser Pierrick Dipanda

|Mohun Bagan

|13

|18

|0.72

rowspan="2"|2018–19

|{{flagicon|ESP}} Pedro Manzi

|Chennai City

|rowspan="2"|21

|18

|1.16

{{flagicon|Trinidad and Tobago}} Willis Plaza

|Churchill Brothers

|20

|1.05

2019–20

|{{flagicon|CMR}} Aser Pierrick Dipanda

|Minerva Punjab

|12

|16

|0.75

2020–21

|{{flagicon|IND}} Bidyashagar Singh

|TRAU

|12

|15

|0.80

2021–22

|{{flagicon|TTO}} Marcus Joseph

|Mohammedan

|15

|18

|0.83

2022–23

|{{flagicon|SLO}} Luka Majcen

|Punjab

|16

|20

|0.80

2023–24

|{{flagicon|ESP}} Álex Sánchez

|align=left|Gokulam Kerala

|19

|22

|0.86

Leading Indian goalscorer

Ever since the beginning of the I-League in 2007, only two Indian players have been the I-League Golden Boot winners with Sunil Chettri winning the award in 2013-14 season and Bidyashagar Singh winning the award in 2020–21 season. The following table lists the top Indian goalscorer in each season and their overall ranking in that season's top scorer table.

class="wikitable sortable"

!Season

!Player

!Club

!Goals

!Games

!Rate

!Overall rank

2007–08

| {{flagicon|IND}} Bhaichung Bhutia

| Mohun Bagan

| 10

| 16

| 0.62

| 5th

2008–09

| {{flagicon|IND}} Sunil Chhetri

| East Bengal

| 9

| 14

| 0.64

| 4th

2009–10

| {{flagicon|IND}} Mohammed Rafi

| Mahindra United

| 14

| 22

| 0.68

| 2nd

2010–11

| {{flagicon|IND}} Jeje Lalpekhlua

| Indian Arrows

| 13

| 15

| 0.86

| 7th

2011–12

| {{flagicon|IND}} Chinadorai Sabeeth

| Pailan Arrows

| 9

| 26

| 0.34

| 11th

2012–13

| {{flagicon|IND}} C. K. Vineeth

| Prayag United

| 7

| 23

| 0.30

| 13th

2013–14

|{{flagicon|IND}} Sunil Chhetri

|Bengaluru FC

|14

|23

|0.61

|1st

2014–15

|{{flagicon|IND}} Thongkhosiem Haokip

|Pune

|7

|18

|0.39

|7th

rowspan="2"|2015–16

|{{flagicon|IND}} Sunil Chhetri

|Bengaluru FC

|rowspan="2"|5

|14

|0.36

|rowspan="2"|6th

{{flagicon|IND}} Sushil Kumar Singh

|Mumbai

|16

|0.31

rowspan="2"|2016–17

|{{flagicon|IND}} C. K. Vineeth

|Bengaluru FC

|rowspan="2"|7

|15

|0.47

|rowspan="2"|5th

{{flagicon|IND}} Sunil Chettri

|Bengaluru FC

|16

|0.44

rowspan="2"|2017–18

|{{flagicon|IND}} Abhijit Sarkar

|Indian Arrows

|rowspan="2"|4

|14

|0.29

|rowspan="2"|8th

{{flagicon|IND}} Subhash Singh

|NEROCA

|17

|0.24

2018–19

|{{flagicon|IND}} Jobby Justin

|East Bengal

|9

|17

|0.52

|4th

2019–20

|{{flagicon|IND}} Rochharzela

|Aizawl

|6

|15

|0.4

|11th

2020–21

|{{flagicon|IND}} Bidyashagar Singh

|TRAU

|12

|15

|0.8

|1st

2021–22

|{{flagicon|IND}} Thahir Zaman

|Gokulam Kerala

|5

|15

|0.33

|12th

rowspan="2"|2022–23

|{{flagicon|IND}} Seilenthang Lotjem

|align="left"|Sudeva Delhi

|rowspan="2"|6

|rowspan=2|21

|rowspan=2|0.29

|rowspan=2|11th

{{flagicon|IND}} Samuel Kynshi

|align="left"|Real Kashmir

2023–24

|{{flagicon|IND}} Lalrinzuala Lalbiaknia

|align="left"|Aizawl

|15

|20

|0.75

|3rd

See also