IFFHS World's Best International Goal Scorer

IFFHS World's Best Man International Goal Scorer
Sport	Association football
Awarded for	Best international goal scorer of the calendar year
Presented by	International Federation of Football History & Statistics
History
First award	1991
Editions	35
First winner	Jean-Pierre Papin
Most wins	Cristiano Ronaldo (5 awards)
Most recent	Erling Haaland (29 goals in 2025)
Website	www.iffhs.com

The IFFHS World's Best International Goal Scorer is a football award given annually since 1991 to the world's top international goalscorer in the calendar year. The award is given by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS).

SportAssociation football

Awarded forBest international goal scorer of the calendar year

Presented byInternational Federation of Football History & Statistics

First award1991

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Only international goals from 1 January to 31 December in international matches, Olympic tournaments, FIFA Club World Cup, official matches between the topical continental club champions, and the continental club competitions of FIFA, AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC and UEFA, as well as, the continental Super Cup matches of the six confederations are taken into consideration. If the number of goals is equal, the player who scored more goals in international matches is ranked higher.^[1]^[2]

Cristiano Ronaldo holds the record for most wins (5), and most goals in a calendar year (32 in 2017). Dennis Bergkamp, Raí and César Obando won the award with the fewest goals (12 in 1992). Neymar and Gabriel Batistuta are the players with the most runner-up appearances (2). Cristiano Ronaldo is the player with most third-place finishes (3). Ali Daei, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski and Romelo Lukaku are the only players who have won the award more than once. Ronaldo and Messi are the only players to win the award in successive seasons, with Ronaldo achieving this twice. Ali Ashfaq scored the most goals without winning (23 goals in 2013). Real Madrid and Barcelona are tied for the clubs with the most wins (5).

In 2012, the IFFHS awarded the World's Best Goal Scorer of the First Decade, considering the years 2001 to 2010.^[3]

[1]

[2]

[3]

Year	Rank	Winner	Club(s)	Goals
1991	1st	Jean-Pierre Papin^[4]	Marseille	16
	2nd	Gabriel Batistuta	Boca Juniors Fiorentina	12
	3rd	Darko Pančev	Red Star Belgrade	12

1992	1st	Dennis Bergkamp^[5]	Ajax	12
	2nd	Raí	São Paulo	12
	3rd	César Obando	Motagua	12

1993	1st	Saeed Al-Owairan^[6]	Al Shabab	18
	2nd	Kazuyoshi Miura	Tokyo Verdy	16
	3rd	Luís Roberto Alves	América	14

1994	1st	Hristo Stoichkov^[7]	Barcelona	17
	2nd	Hwang Sun-hong	Pohang Steelers	16
	3rd	Romário	Barcelona	15

1995	1st	Jürgen Klinsmann^[8]	Tottenham Hotspur Bayern Munich	17
	2nd	Mário Jardel	Grêmio	16
	3rd	Enzo Francescoli	River Plate	14

1996	1st	Ali Daei^[9]	Persepolis Al Sadd	22
	2nd	Natipong Sritong-In Hernán Crespo	Thai Farmers Bank River Plate	16
	3rd	–

1997	1st	Ronaldo^[10]	Barcelona Inter Milan	22
	2nd	Karim Bagheri	Persepolis Arminia Bielefeld	20
	3rd	Romário Kazuyoshi Miura	Flamengo Valencia Tokyo Verdy	19

1998	1st	Jasem Al-Huwaidi^[11]	Al-Salmiya	20
	2nd	Gabriel Batistuta	Fiorentina	14
	3rd	Luis Hernández	Necaxa	13

1999	1st	Raúl^[12]	Real Madrid	14
	2nd	Rivaldo Alex	Barcelona Palmeiras	13
	3rd	–

2000	1st	Rivaldo^[13]	Barcelona	21^{[note 1]}
	2nd	Romário	Vasco da Gama	21
	3rd	Ali Daei	Hertha BSC	20

2001	1st	Hani Al-Dhabit^[14]	Dhofar	22
	2nd	Kiatisuk Senamuang Archie Thompson Raúl	Warriors FC Marconi Stallions Real Madrid	16
	3rd	–

2002	1st	Ruud van Nistelrooy^[15]	Manchester United	14
	2nd	Miroslav Klose Jon Dahl Tomasson	1. FC Kaiserslautern Feyenoord Milan	13
	3rd	–

2003	1st	Thierry Henry^[16]	Arsenal	15^{[note 2]}
	2nd	David Trezeguet	Juventus	15
	3rd	Raúl	Real Madrid	14

2004	1st	Ali Daei^[17]	Saba Battery	17
	2nd	Carlos Tevez	Boca Juniors	16
	3rd	Adriano Didier Drogba	Inter Milan Marseille Chelsea	15

2005	1st	Adriano^[18]	Inter Milan	18
	2nd	Wilmer Velásquez	Olimpia	15
	3rd	Ronaldinho Emad Moteab	Barcelona Al Ahly	14

2006	1st	Humberto Suazo^[19]	Colo-Colo	17
	2nd	Peter Crouch	Liverpool	16
	3rd	Mohamed Aboutrika	Al Ahly	14

2007	1st	Trésor Mputu^[20]	TP Mazembe	20
	2nd	Salvador Cabañas	América	18
	3rd	Juan Román Riquelme	Boca Juniors	17

2008	1st	Rico^[21]	Al-Muharraq	19
	2nd	Ahmad Ajab	Qadsia	15
	3rd	Miroslav Klose	Bayern Munich	15

2009	1st	Shinji Okazaki^[22]	Shimizu S-Pulse	15^{[note 3]}
	2nd	Didier Drogba	Chelsea	15
	3rd	Abdelmalek Ziaya	ES Sétif	15

2010	1st	Bader Al-Mutawa^[23]	Qadsia	17^{[note 4]}
	2nd	Samuel Eto'o	Inter Milan	17
	3rd	David Villa	Barcelona	16

2011	1st	Lionel Messi^[24]	Barcelona	19
	2nd	Radamel Falcao	Porto Atlético Madrid	17
	3rd	Hassan Abdel-Fattah Mario Gómez	Al-Kuwait Bayern Munich	15

2012	1st	Lionel Messi^[25]	Barcelona	25
	2nd	Neymar	Santos	21
	3rd	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	18

2013	1st	Cristiano Ronaldo^[26]	Real Madrid	25
	2nd	Ali Ashfaq	New Radiant	23
	3rd	Issam Jemâa	Al-Kuwait	20

2014	1st	Cristiano Ronaldo^[27]	Real Madrid	20
	2nd	Neymar	Barcelona	19
	3rd	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	18

2015	1st	Robert Lewandowski^[28]	Bayern Munich	22
	2nd	Ahmed Khalil	Shabab Al-Ahli	20
	3rd	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	19

2016	1st	Cristiano Ronaldo^[29]	Real Madrid	24
	2nd	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	21
	3rd	Edinson Cavani	Paris Saint-Germain	16

2017	1st	Cristiano Ronaldo^[30]	Real Madrid	32
	2nd	Kim Yu-song	April 25	16
	3rd	Robert Lewandowski	Bayern Munich	15

2018	1st	Baghdad Bounedjah^[31]	Al Sadd	20
	2nd	Romelu Lukaku	Manchester United	15
	3rd	Ayoub El Kaabi	RS Berkane	15

2019	1st	Cristiano Ronaldo^[32]	Juventus	21
	2nd	Ali Mabkhout	Al Jazira	19
	3rd	Harry Kane	Tottenham Hotspur	19

2020	1st	Romelu Lukaku^[33]	Inter Milan	16
	2nd	Erling Haaland	Borussia Dortmund	14
	3rd	Neymar	Paris Saint-Germain	11

2021	1st	Robert Lewandowski^[34]	Bayern Munich	24
	2nd	Harry Kane	Tottenham Hotspur	22
	3rd	Cristiano Ronaldo	Juventus Manchester United	19

2022	1st	Lionel Messi^[35]	Paris Saint-Germain	22
	2nd	Kylian Mbappé	Paris Saint-Germain	21
	3rd	Julián Álvarez	River Plate Manchester City	15

2023	1st	Romelu Lukaku^[36]	Inter Milan Roma	22
	2nd	Erling Haaland	Manchester City	18
	3rd	Mehdi Taremi	Porto	14

2024	1st	Soufiane Rahimi^[37]	Al Ain	20
	2nd	Ayoub El Kaabi	Olympiacos	19
	3rd	Erling Haaland Viktor Gyökeres	Manchester City Sporting CP	17

2025	1st	Erling Haaland^[38]	Manchester City	29
	2nd	Harry Kane	Bayern Munich	23
	3rd	Kylian Mbappé	Real Madrid	22

Player	Wins	Years
Cristiano Ronaldo	5	2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019
Lionel Messi	3	2011, 2012, 2022
Ali Daei	2	1996, 2004
Robert Lewandowski		2015, 2021
Romelu Lukaku		2020, 2023
Jean-Pierre Papin	1	1991
Dennis Bergkamp		1992
Saeed Al-Owairan		1993
Hristo Stoichkov		1994
Jürgen Klinsmann		1995
Ronaldo		1997
Jasem Al-Huwaidi		1998
Raúl		1999
Rivaldo		2000
Hani Al-Dhabit		2001
Ruud van Nistelrooy		2002
Thierry Henry		2003
Adriano		2005
Humberto Suazo		2006
Trésor Mputu		2007
Rico		2008
Shinji Okazaki		2009
Bader Al-Mutawa		2010
Baghdad Bounedjah		2018
Soufiane Rahimi		2024
Erling Haaland		2025

Club	Total	Players
Real Madrid	5	2
Barcelona	4	3
Inter Milan	3	3
Bayern Munich	3	2
Al Sadd	2	2
Ajax	1	1
Al-Kuwait	1	1
Al-Muharraq	1	1
Al Shabab	1	1
Arsenal	1	1
Colo-Colo	1	1
Dhofar	1	1
Juventus	1	1
Qadsia	1	1
Manchester United	1	1
Marseille	1	1
Motagua	1	1
Paris Saint-Germain	1	1
Saba Battery	1	1
São Paulo	1	1
Shimizu S-Pulse	1	1
Tottenham Hotspur	1	1
TP Mazembe	1	1
AS Roma	1	1
Al Ain	1	1
Manchester City	1	1

Nationality	Total	Players
Brazil	5	5
Portugal	5	1
Argentina	3	1
France	2	2
Kuwait	2	2
Netherlands	2	2
Iran	2	1
Poland	2	1
Belgium	2	1
Algeria	1	1
Bulgaria	1	1
Chile	1	1
DR Congo	1	1
Germany	1	1
Honduras	1	1
Japan	1	1
Oman	1	1
Saudi Arabia	1	1
Morocco	1	1
Norway	1	1

Rank	Player	Nation	Club(s)	Goals for country	Goals for club(s)	Total goals
1	Ruud van Nistelrooy	Netherlands	Manchester United Real Madrid Hamburger SV	33	53	86
2	Thierry Henry	France	Arsenal Barcelona	43	42	85
3	Didier Drogba	Ivory Coast	Marseille Chelsea	45	38	83
4	Miroslav Klose	Germany	1. FC Kaiserslautern Werder Bremen Bayern Munich	58	23	81
5	Samuel Eto'o	Cameroon	Mallorca Barcelona Inter Milan	44	35	79
6	Flávio Amado	Angola	Petro Atlético Al Ahly Al Shabab	32	41	73
7	Dimitar Berbatov	Bulgaria	Bayer Leverkusen Tottenham Hotspur Manchester United	46	25	71
8	Raúl	Spain	Real Madrid Schalke 04	26	45	71
9	David Villa	Spain	Zaragoza Valencia Barcelona	44	24	68
10	Andriy Shevchenko	Ukraine	Milan Chelsea Dynamo Kyiv	32	36	68
11	Alexander Frei	Switzerland	Servette Rennes Basel	42	21	63
12	Henrik Larsson	Sweden	Celtic Barcelona Manchester United Helsingborgs IF	25	36	61
13	Jon Dahl Tomasson	Denmark	Feyenoord Milan VfB Stuttgart Villarreal	43	16	59
14	Jared Borgetti	Mexico	Santos Laguna Pachuca Bolton Wanderers Al-Ittihad Morelia	41	17	58
15	Adriano	Brazil	Parma Inter Milan São Paulo Flamengo	27	31	58

IFFHS World's Best International Goal Scorer

Men's winners

List of winners

Statistics

The World's Best Top International Goal Scorer of the First Decade (2001–2010)

All-time Best International Goal Scorer ranking

Women's winners

List of winners

Statistics

See also

References

External links

Related Articles

Rank	Player	Year	Goals
1	Cristiano Ronaldo	2017	32
2	Erling Haaland	2025	29
3	Lionel Messi	2012	25
3	Cristiano Ronaldo	2013	25
5	Cristiano Ronaldo	2016	24
5	Robert Lewandowski	2021	24

Rank	Player	CL	CWC	CC2	OCs	SC	WC	OICs	Country	Total	Years
1	Cristiano Ronaldo*	155	0	2	6	2	7	0	138	310	2002–present
2	Lionel Messi*	136	0	0	12	3	6	0	112	269	2004–present
3	Robert Lewandowski	105	0	8	0	0	2	0	85	200	2008–present
4	Harry Kane	40	0	18	6	0	3	0	73	142	2011–present
5	Romelu Lukaku	21	0	27	0	1	2	0	89	140	2009–present
6	Neymar	58	0	0	0	1	1	0	79	139	2009–present
7	Karim Benzema	90	0	0	3	2	6	0	37	138	2009–present
8	Gerd Müller	34	20	4	7	3	1	0	68	137	1964–1981
9	Edin Džeko	33	0	28	4	0	0	0	68	133	2003–present
10	Luis Suárez	36	0	16	5	1	6	0	69	133	2005–present
11	Ferenc Puskás	36	0	0	3	0	2	0	84	125	1943–1966
12	Raúl	71	0	4	0	1	3	0	44	123	1994–2015
13	Ali Daei	11	0	2	0	0	0	0	108	121	1994–2007
14	Mohamed Salah	51	0	10	0	0	0	0	60	121	2009–present
15	Zlatan Ibrahimović	49	0	8	0	0	0	0	62	119	1999–2023
16	Edinson Cavani	36	0	25	0	0	0	0	58	119	2005–present
17	Didier Drogba	45	0	6	0	0	0	0	65	116	2002–2016
18	Andriy Shevchenko	59	0	7	0	1	0	0	48	115	1992–2012
19	Sunil Chhetri	15	0	5	0	0	0	0	95	115	2002–present
20	Hossam Hassan	17	10	4	10	0	0	2	69	112	1984–2008
21	Ronaldo	21	5	15	8	0	1	0	62	112	1993–2011
22	Thierry Henry	51	0	8	0	0	0	0	51	110	1994–2012
23	Ali Mabkhout	16	0	0	6	0	1	0	85	108	2008–present
24	Romário	24	0	0	24	0	4	0	55	107	1985–2007
25	Kylian Mbappé	55	0	0	0	1	1	0	50	107	2015–present
26	Samuel Eto'o	33	0	15	0	0	1	0	56	105	1999–2019
27	Sergio Agüero	47	0	15	0	1	0	0	41	104	2003–2021
28	Pelé	18	0	0	0	0	7	1	77	103	1957–1977
29	Sándor Kocsis	8	3	0	17	0	0	0	75	103	1945–1965
30	Miroslav Klose	15	0	16	0	0	0	0	71	102	1999–2016
31	Thomas Müller	57	0	0	0	0	0	0	45	102	2008–present
32	Olivier Giroud	25	0	16	1	1	0	0	57	100	2010–present
33	Eusébio	46	7	0	4	0	2	0	41	100	1957–1978
34	Bader Al-Mutawa	12	0	31	++	0	0	0	56	99+	2003–present

Year	Rank	Winner	Club(s)	Goals
2021	1st	Ellen White^[42]	Manchester City	21
	2nd	Vivianne Miedema	Arsenal	17
	3rd	Lea Schüller	Bayern Munich	17

2022	1st	Sam Kerr^[43]	Chelsea	17
	2nd	Beth Mead	Arsenal	15
	3rd	Ewa Pajor	VfL Wolfsburg	15

2023	1st	Barbra Banda^[44]	Shanghai Shengli	15
	2nd	Salma Paralluelo	Barcelona	14
	3rd	Sam Kerr	Chelsea	13

2024	1st	Lea Schüller^[45]	Bayern Munich	14
	2nd	Marie-Antoinette Katoto	Paris Saint-Germain	13
	3rd	Aitana Bonmatí	Barcelona	13

2025	1st	Claudia Pina^[46]	Barcelona	18
	2nd	Alessia Russo	Arsenal	14
	3rd	Alexia Putellas	Barcelona	13

Player	Wins	Years
Ellen White	1	2021
Sam Kerr	1	2022
Barbra Banda	1	2023
Lea Schüller	1	2024
Claudia Pina	1	2025

Club	Total	Players
Chelsea	1	1
Manchester City	1	1
Shanghai Shengli	1	1
Bayern Munich	1	1
Barcelona	1	1