Beninese striker Joseph Ede Oloko has shot to the top of the European Golden Shoe standings, edging out Barcelona’s Raphinha by a single point after a prolific run in Latvia’s top flight.
His form earned him his first senior call-up for Benin now under Nigeria’s former trainer, Gernot Rohr.
Oloko has scored 25 goals in 27 Virsliga games this season, first on loan at Tukums 2000 and now back at parent club FK Liepaja, with five matches still to play before the Latvian league season closes in early November.
Under the competition’s points-based coefficient system – which weights goals by the strength of the league they’re scored in – his tally converts to 25 points, one ahead of Raphinha’s 24.
Raphinha, deployed as a makeshift centre-forward for Barcelona this season in place of Robert Lewandowski, has scored 12 goals in seven LaLiga appearances, including back-to-back hat-tricks. Because ‘Big Five’ league goals carry a multiplier of two under the coefficient system, his return outstrips higher-volume scorers from smaller leagues on paper, even as Oloko’s raw tally leads the continent.