Henry strikes for gold

Arsenal FC striker Thierry Henry has become the first Frenchman to win the ESM Golden Shoe award after scoring 30 goals in the 2003/04 English Premiership, a figure which gives him a total of 60 points in the final standings.

Henry confirmed
Henry had been the favourite to pick up the award after leading the table when most of the leagues around Europe finished at the end of May - and his position at the top of the table was confirmed this weekend when the Ukrainian league became the last championship of the 2003/04 European season to reach its conclusion.

Ailton in second
SV Werder Bremen striker Ailton finished second to Henry after scoring 28 goals in the Bundesliga while Djibril Cissé grabbed third place with 26 Ligue 1 goals for of AJ Auxerre. Both players are changing clubs this summer, Ailton joining FC Schalke 04 and Cissé going to Liverpool FC.

Makaay drop
Last season's winner Roy Makaay finished seventh this time around after moving from RC Deportivo La Coruña to FC Bayern München at the start of the 2003/04 season while AC Milan’s Andriy Shevchenko came highest of the Serie A contingent in fourth. Long-time leader Ara Hakobyan, of Armenian club FC Banants who play a calendar-year season, held on for joint ninth.

Final standings 

Pos

Last updated: 20 June 2004
Only the leading five countries (Spain, Italy, Germany, France and England) on the UEFA Ranking have two as their multiplier. This is to emphasise the difference in international performance level between clubs from those countries and those from the other countries.

A player cannot first play in a summer league (eg Norway) and then in a winter league (eg Spain) and combine the points total for each season.

Figures from Voetbal International