MEN'S WORLD BEST NATIONAL GOAL SCORER OF XXI CENTURY


The World’s Best National Goal Scorer of XXI Century: Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo finished 2022 as the best goal-scorer of the top national leagues in the world football in XXI Century with 498 goals.
The runner-up Lionel Messi had 11 goals fewer at the end of the past year.
Overall, 89 players in the world have scored 200+ goals in the national top divisions in XXI Century (highlighted green in the table); they are sorted by main ranking (Total Goals XXI). 
Several other players (marked grey) are below 200 league goals in XXI but reached this amount adding the goals from XX century having still scored a significant majority (not less than 65 percent) of their goals in XXI century (so they can be conditionally categorized as the “goal-scorers of XXI century”). They are also listed in the table but not ranked. 
The players in bold are currently active; others finished the career.
Tiebreaking criteria in case of equal number of goals: average strength of leagues (according to IFFHS ranking).


 BEST GOAL SCORERS OF TOP NATIONAL DIVISIONS    
 IN XXI CENTURY    
      
 PlayerNationalityGoals  
   XXIXXCareer
1Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal 498 498
2Lionel Messi Argentina 487 487
3Zlatan Ibrahimović Sweden3921393
4Luis Suárez Uruguay364 364
5Robert LewandowskiPoland 357 357
6Nicolás MuñozPanama328 328
7Aleksandar Đurić Singapore 30431335
8José Alfredo CastilloBolivia2894293
9Ali AshfaqMaldives 288 288
10Martin KamburovBulgaria 2871288
11Sergio Agüero  Argentina 282 282
12Samuel Eto'OCameroon 2828290
13David Villa Spain280 280
14Gonzalo HiguaínArgentina279 279
15Álvaro Saborío Costa Rica279 279
16Williams ReyesEl Salvador27717294
17Edinson CavaniUruguay276 276
18Carlos SaucedoBolivia276 276
19Rhys Griffiths Wales272 272
20Karim BenzemaFrance269 269
21Dayro Moreno Colombia 265 265
22Bafétimbi GomisFrance 260 260
23André-Pierre Gignac France260 260
24Klaas-Jan HuntelaarNetherlands257 257
25Óscar CardozoParaguay257 257
26Dejan Damjanović Montenegro257 257
27NeymarBrazil255 255
28Pablo EscobarBolivia2511252
29Cristian Gonzáles Indonesia 250 250
30Fred Brazil249 249
31Eran ZahaviIsrael247 247
32Ricardo OliveiraBrazil2441245
33Luis Tejada Panama24211253
34Edin DžekoBosnia and Herzegovina239 239
35Vágner LoveBrazil239 239
36Nemanja NikolićHungary238 238
37Esteban ParedesChile238 238
38Víctor NúñezCosta Rica 23711248
39Luís FabianoBrazil23614250
40Marc Lloyd Williams Wales23683319
41Thierry HenryFrance23352285
42Sebastián TagliabúeUAE233 233
43Wayne RooneyEngland231 231
44Burak YılmazTurkey231 231
45Kris BoydScotland230 230
46Klæmint OlsenFaroe Islands230 230
47José SandArgentina 2291230
48Michael WildeEngland229 229
49Carlos TevezArgentina228 228
50Hernán BarcosArgentina228 228
51William Ferreira Uruguay228 228
52Sebastián Abreu Uruguay22785312
53Robbie KeaneRepublic of Ireland22412236
54Radamel FalcaoColombia 224 224
55Marcus Berg Sweden 223 223
56Pierre-Emerick AubameyangGabon219 219
57Ranty MartinsNigeria218 218
58Hamdi SalihiAlbania 217 217
59Chris VenablesEngland217 217
60Humberto Suazo Chile216 216
61Santiago Salcedo Paraguay215 215
62Carlos Kamiani FélixMexico215 215
63WashingtonBrazil21426240
64Bas DostNetherlands214 214
65Sebastián Soria Qatar214 214
66Dirk KuytNetherlands21319232
67Antonio Di NataleItaly209 209
68Youssef El-ArabiMorocco209 209
69Lee HuntEngland209 209
70Israel SilvaBrazil207 207
71Andrew WaterworthNorthern Ireland207 207
72Diego ForlánUruguay20616222
73Germán CanoArgentina206 206
74JonasBrazil206 206
75Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko Estonia2066212
76Mario GómezGermany205 205
77Abderrazak HamdallahMorocco205 205
78Robin van PersieNetherlands204 204
79GrafiteBrazil203 203
80Tarmo NeemeloEstonia2031204
81Rudel Calero Nicaragua203 203
82Romelu Lukaku Belgium202 202
83Francesco TottiItaly20149250
84Magno AlvesBrazil20143244
85Lisandro López Argentina201 201
86Mauro BoselliArgentina201 201
87Omar Al SomahSyria200 200
88Daniel HussLuxembourg20028228
89Jason Byrne Republic of Ireland20017217
 Maksim GruznovEstonia199105304
 Roy MakaayNetherlands16889257
 Claudio PizarroPeru18551236
 Ruud van NistelrooyNetherlands15973232
 Mirko GrabovacSingapore 17554229
 Alex Brazil 19236228
 Anvar BerdiyevUzbekistan16461225
 Ionel DănciulescuRomania 14877225
 Yevgeniy BoldyginKyrgyzstan15468222
 Roman VasilyukBelarus14378221
 Lee Dong-gook South Korea19618214
 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, 2022 (for the ranking XXI);
from the career start to December 31, 2022 (for the ranking Career).

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