Hat-trick continues Huntelaar rise

With many of the leading contenders struggling to find their scoring touch, Klaas Jan Huntelaar continues to climb the ESM Golden Shoe standings as he made it ten goals in five games with a hat-trick in AFC Ajax's 6-0 win against Sparta Rotterdam on Sunday.

Blistering form
The Dutch Under-21 international also scored four times against RBC Roosendaal a fortnight ago and has jumped from 12th to third place in just three weeks. He is now within touching distance of Luca Toni at the top of the table, but remains modest about his prospects of being Europe's top marksman come May: "It's been a good afternoon. We'll just keep going on, and see what happens".

Rosenberg respect
The 22-year-old's team-mate Markus Rosenberg is more confident of his success, if a little jealous. "I'm going to ask to switch places with Klaas Jan next time," the Swedish striker said. "He doesn't always need to score a hat-trick; he could give some to me." ACF Fiorentina forward Toni will hope he does, although the Italian international notched his first goal in five outings against AC Siena on Sunday.

Shevchenko rise
Elsewhere in the rankings, Thierry Henry moved to seventh after continuing his fine record against Fulham FC with two goals at Craven Cottage, while in Italy, Andriy Shevchenko made it eleven strikes in eleven matches with a late effort at home to Empoli FC.

Last updated: 5 March 2006

*Season finished

Only the leading five countries (Spain, Italy, Germany, France and England) in the UEFA coefficient rankings 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