THE WORLD'S BEST SCORING DEFENDER 2024
The World’s Highest Scoring Defender 2024: Abdul Rahman Baba
A Ghanayan left-back Abdul Rahman Baba became the world’s highest scoring defender in 2024. He totalized 14 goals in all competitions playing for PAOK, all of them from open play.
Benjamin Mata, a Cook Islands centre-back, has scored more (17, including two hat-tricks) but he is not classified as his league (New Zealand) is below top 100 national leagues (according IFFHS league ranking).
Gabriel Mentz (Malta, 14 goals) and Issoufou Dayo (Burkina Faso, 13) complete the podium.
James Tavernier, crowned as the highest scoring defender in 3 of 4 last years (2020, 2022, 2023), is now on modest 9th position with 11 goals.
| HIGHEST | SCORING | DEFENDERS 2024 | ||||||||
| Player | Pos. | Goals | Pen. | Country | Clubs | DL | DC | ICC | NT | |
| Benjamin Mata | CB | 17 | 8 | Cook Islands | Wellington Olympic (NZ) | 11 | 6 | |||
| 1 | Abdul Rahman Baba | LB | 14 | Ghana | PAOK (Greece) | 10 | 4 | |||
| 2 | Gabriel Mentz | CB | 14 | 7 | Malta | Gzira | 13 | 1 | ||
| 3 | Issoufou Dayo | CB | 13 | 8 | Burkina Faso | RSB Berkane (Morocco) | 6 | 6 | 1 | |
| 4 | Hélder Lopes | LB | 13 | 4 | Portugal | Hapoel Be'er Sheva (Israel) | 8 | 2 | 3 | |
| 5 | Kevin Diks | CB | 12 | 11 | Indonesia | Copenhagen (Denmark) | 7 | 5 | ||
| 6 | Höskuldur Gunnlaugsson | RB | 12 | 5 | Iceland | Breidablik | 9 | 2 | 1 | |
| 7 | Ramin Rezaeian | RB | 11 | 3 | Iran | Sepahan, Esteghlal | 8 | 1 | 2 | |
| 8 | David Goldar | CB | 11 | Spain | Pafos (Cyprus) | 8 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 9 | James Tavernier | RB | 11 | 7 | England | Rangers (Scotland) | 9 | 2 | ||
| 10 | Joško Gvardiol | LB | 10 | Croatia | Manchester City | 8 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 11 | Dávid Hancko | CB | 10 | 1 | Slovakia | Feyenoord (Netherlands) | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 12 | Märten Pajunurm | LB | 10 | 5 | Estonia | Kuressaare | 9 | 1 | ||
| 13 | Ebenezer Abban | CB | 10 | 8 | Ghana | Heart of Lions | 10 |
Only players from top 100 leagues who featured as defenders in vast majority of games within 2024 are taken into account.
Tie-breakers: 1) more international goals (ICC + NT), 2) more national team goals (NT), 3) fewer penalty goals (indicated next to the total).