What a way to end a season. Zan Vipotnik, who has been nothing short of a revelation at the Liberty Stadium this campaign, has been named joint winner of the inaugural Sky Bet EFL Red Boot – awarded to the leading goalscorer across all three divisions of the English Football League – after finishing the 2025/26 season tied on 23 goals with Leyton Orient’s Dom Ballard.
Twenty-three goals. Let that sink in for a moment. In a Championship that chews up strikers and spits them out, the Slovenian has been absolutely relentless, firing home that tally in 44 appearances to claim the divisional Golden Boot as well. Ballard, to his enormous credit, matched him across League One in just 40 games, and you won’t find many Swansea fans begrudging him a share of the honour. Both men have had quite the season.
But what elevates this beyond the usual end-of-campaign back-patting is what those 23 goals actually mean away from the pitch. Through Sky Bet and the British Heart Foundation’s Every Minute Matters initiative – now in its second year and supported by the EFL – Sky Bet are donating £50,000 for every goal scored by the Red Boot winner. In total, Vipotnik and Ballard’s combined haul has raised a staggering £1.15 million for the BHF. Every time Vipotnik wheeled away in celebration at the Swansea.com stadium this season, he was doing far more than sending the home end delirious.
The donation forms part of Sky Bet’s broader pledge to contribute up to £6 million to the British Heart Foundation over two years, funding vital CPR training, improving community access to defibrillators, and supporting the pioneering CureHeart research programme into inherited heart muscle diseases. Earlier in the season, Sky Bet also donated £1,000 for every goal scored across the EFL throughout February, raising a further £514,000 for the charity.
Vipotnik himself seemed genuinely moved when he collected the award – presented following Swansea’s final league fixture of the season against Charlton Athletic on Saturday 2 May – and you could tell this one meant a great deal to him.
“To win the Golden Boot in the Championship was very special,” he said, “but to also win the Red Boot as the joint top scorer across all three divisions of the EFL is a great honour. There are some great strikers who have done so well across the Championship, League One and League Two, and to have the most goals, alongside Dom Ballard, is an achievement I am proud of.
“What makes it extra special is knowing that this award will also provide great assistance to the British Heart Foundation, with over £1 million raised from the goals I scored as part of the Every Minute Matters campaign. To be able to be part of something that can make such a difference and help save people’s lives is an incredible feeling.”
Teresa Hicks, Director of Partnership & Relationship Fundraising at the British Heart Foundation, was equally effusive. “Thanks to Sky Bet and the Red Boot, every strike this season has meant so much more than celebration,” she said, “helping turn goals into vital funds that will power our lifesaving work. That support will help get more people kitted out with potentially lifesaving CPR skills, help improve access to defibrillators in communities across the UK, and support the pioneering BHF CureHeart research programme.”
The Red Boot was launched at the start of the season by former professionals Jermain Defoe and Bobby Zamora, and the initiative has already inspired more than 500,000 people to begin learning CPR through the BHF’s free online tool, RevivR.
It’s been a long time since Swansea supporters had a striker they could genuinely get excited about. Vipotnik has given us that and then some this season – and it turns out his goals have been saving more than just points.
You can learn CPR in just 15 minutes by visiting revivr.bhf.org.uk
Feature Image Credit: Ashley Crowden/JMP