THE WORLD'S BEST NATIONAL GOAL SCORER OF XXI CENTURY



Picture : Cristiano Ronaldo - Sporting Portugal 2002/03, Manchester United 2003/09 , Real Madrid 2009/18, Juventus FC 2018/2021, Manchester United since 2021.


The World’s Best National Goal Scorer of XXI Century at Jan 1, 2022: Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo is currently the best goal-scorer of the top national leagues in the world football in XXI Century at the beginning of 2022. His tally is as high as 487 goals. 25 of them were added in 2021.
Lionel Messi has added 24 goals for the last year and is now at the mark of 475.
Overall, 64 players in the world have scored 200+ goals in the national top divisions in XXI Century. Carlos Kamiani (Mexico), Chris Venables (England) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon) have reached 200-goal milestone in 2021.
All these players are marked by blue in the table and sorted by main ranking (goals in XXI Century).
Also we put in the table other 19 players (marked by orange) who are below 200 goals in XXI but have reached this amount adding the goals they scored in XX century. So, we get an additional ranking (Career goals). 
These 19 players have still scored a solid majority (not less than 65 percent) of their goals in XXI century (respectively, not more than 35 percent in XX) so they can be conditionally considered as the “goal-scorers of XXI century”. They are sorted in the table by Career ranking.
The players marked in bold are currently active; others finished the career.


 THE WORLD's BEST GOAL-SCORERS    
 OF TOP NATIONAL DIVISIONS    
 IN XXI CENTURY    
      
 PlayerNationalityGoals Total
   XXIXXCareer
1Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal 487 487
2Lionel Messi Argentina 475 475
3Zlatan Ibrahimović Sweden3911392
4Luis Suárez Uruguay352 352
5Robert LewandowskiPoland 328 328
6Aleksandar Đurić Singapore 30435339
7Ali AshfaqMaldives 290 290
8José Alfredo CastilloBolivia2884292
9Martin KamburovBulgaria 2881289
10Sergio Agüero  Argentina 282 282
11Samuel Eto'OCameroon 2828290
12David Villa Spain280 280
13Carlos SaucedoBolivia276 276
14Rhys Griffiths Wales272 272
15Edinson CavaniUruguay271 271
16Gonzalo HiguaínArgentina263 263
17Klaas-Jan HuntelaarNetherlands257 257
18Dejan Damjanović Montenegro252 252
19Pablo EscobarBolivia2511252
20Cristian Gonzáles Indonesia 251 251
21Karim BenzemaFrance250 250
22Fred Brazil248 248
23Ricardo OliveiraBrazil2441245
24Óscar CardozoParaguay244 244
25Bafétimbi GomisFrance 244 244
26Vágner LoveBrazil238 238
27Víctor NúñezCosta Rica 23711248
28Luís FabianoBrazil23614250
29Esteban ParedesChile236 236
30Marc Lloyd Williams Wales23683319
31André-Pierre Gignac France235 235
32NeymarBrazil234 234
33Eran ZahaviIsrael233 233
34Thierry HenryFrance23252284
35Wayne RooneyEngland231 231
36Nemanja NikolićHungary231 231
37Carlos TevezArgentina228 228
38Sebastián TagliabúeUAE228 228
39Sebastián Abreu Uruguay22785312
40Burak YılmazTurkey227 227
41Robbie KeaneRepublic of Ireland22412236
42José SandArgentina 2221223
43Radamel FalcaoColombia 221 221
44Klæmint OlsenFaroe Islands221 221
45Edin DžekoBosnia and Herzegovina218 218
46Ranty MartinsNigeria218 218
47Andrew WaterworthNorthern Ireland216 216
48WashingtonBrazil21426240
49Dirk KuytNetherlands21319232
50Humberto Suazo Chile213 213
51Marcus Berg Sweden 210 210
52Antonio Di NataleItaly209 209
53Carlos KamianiMexico209 209
54Lee HuntEngland209 209
55Chris VenablesEngland207 207
56Diego ForlánUruguay20616222
57Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko Estonia2066212
58Mario GómezGermany205 205
59Robin van PersieNetherlands204 204
60GrafiteBrazil203 203
61Pierre-Emerick AubameyangGabon202 202
62Francesco TottiItaly20149250
63Magno AlvesBrazil20143244
64Jason Byrne Republic of Ireland20017217
 Maksim GruznovEstonia199105304
 Roy MakaayNetherlands16889257
 Claudio PizarroPeru18551236
 Ruud van NistelrooyNetherlands15973232
 Alex Brazil 19236228
 Mirko GrabovacSingapore 17453227
 Anvar BerdiyevUzbekistan16461225
 Ionel DănciulescuRomania 14877225
 Yevgeniy BoldyginKyrgyzstan15468222
 Roman VasilyukBelarus14378221
 Lee Dong-gook South Korea19618214
 Daniel HussLuxembourg18528213
 Vioresin SinaniAlbania 17934213
 Alessandro Del PieroItaly15261213
 Alexander Frei Switzerland19118209
 Dimitar BerbatovBulgaria 18128209
 Daniel XhafajAlbania 17631207
 Povilas LukšysLithuania18124205
 Zafar Kholmurodov Uzbekistan15149200


All goals scored in top national divisions worldwide were taken in account.
Brazilian state championships Paulista and Carioca have status equal to national leagues (according to IFFHS decision).

Period: 
from January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2021 (for the ranking XXI);
from the career start to December 31, 2021 (for the ranking Career).

Tiebreaking criteria in case of equal number of goals: average strength of leagues (according to IFFHS ranking).

Full names of Brazilian players:
Alex = Alexsandro de Souza
Fred = Frederico Chaves Guedes
Grafite = Edinaldo Batista Libânio
Luís Fabiano = Luís Fabiano Clemente
Neymar = Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior
Washington = Washington Stecanela Cerqueira