IFFHS WORLD GOAL SCORER RANKINGS OF THE XXIst CENTURY - RONALDO THE KING !

• Feb 20, 2021
• Best GoalScorer

Picture : Cristiano Ronaldo won 8 individual IFFHS WORLD SCORER Awards in the last 7 years. He leads all 3 IFFHS WORLD RANKINGS of the XXIst Century (International, National and Global) !

The IFFHS elaborates 3 Rankings of THE WORLD'S BEST GOAL SCORERS ( One INTERNATIONAL, one NATIONAL and One GLOBAL) with Annual Awards. Cristiano Ronaldo is the leader of ALL 3 WORLD RANKINGS for the XXIst Century (1.1.2001 to 31.12.2020) ! A great and fantastic performance !

The World's Best International Goal Scorer of XXIst Century at Jan 1, 2021 : Cristiano Ronaldo 

Cristiano Ronaldo leads the category of best international goal-scorers in the world football in XXIst Century  at the beginning of 2021.
All goals scored in the official international club competitions (ICC) and official games between national teams (NT) from 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2020 are taken in account.
Cristiano Ronaldo has 246 goals on his tally, 144 for clubs and 102 for country (Portugal). All others are well behind, even Lionel Messi with his 197 goals.
13 players have reached 100-goal mark in XXI century so far, 10 of them active (taken in bold). 
Thierry Henry is also conditionally added to this list; he scored essential majority of his international goals (85 out of 110) in XXI century. For him and other two players who have some goals in XX century, these goals are taken in brackets.

	Player	Country	Goals		Total	Total	Total
			ICC	NT	XXI	XX	Career
1	Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	144	102	246		246
2	Lionel Messi	Argentina	126	71	197		197
3	Robert Lewandowski	Poland	78	63	141		141
4	Neymar	Brazil	57	64	121		121
5	Zlatan Ibrahimović	Sweden	57	62	119		119
6	Bader Al-Mutawa	Kuwait	63	56	119		119
7	Didier Drogba	Ivory Coast	50	65	115		115
8	Luis Suárez	Uruguay	52	63	115		115
9	Sergio Agüero	Argentina	63	41	104		104
10	Edin Džeko	Bosnia and Herzegovina	42	59	101		101
11	Miroslav Klose	Germany	29 (+2)	71	100	2	102
12	Samuel Eto'O	Cameroon	49	51 (+5)	100	5	105
13	Edinson Cavani	Uruguay	49	51	100		100
	Thierry Henry	France	42 (+17)	43 (+8)	85	25	110

 

 

The World’s Best National Goal Scorer of XXIst Century at Jan 1, 2021: Cristiano Ronaldo 

Cristiano Ronaldo is currently the best goal-scorer of the top national leagues in world football in XXIst Century at the beginning of 2021. His tally is as high as 462 goals. 
Lionel Messi is 11 goals behind.
Overall, 58 players in the world have scored 200+ goals in national top divisions in XXIst Century. The last one to enter this list is the Swede Marcus Berg currently playing for Krasnodar (Russia). He has scored 200th goal just on the last matchday of 2020.
All these players are sorted by main ranking (XXI).
Also we put in the table other 20 players , which are below 200 goals in XXIst but have reached this amount adding the goals they scored in XXth century. So, we get additional ranking (Career). 
These 20 players have still scored a solid majority (not less than 65 percent) of their goals in XXIst century (respectively, not more than 35 percent in XX) so they can be conditionally considered as “goal-scorers of XXIst century”. They are sorted in the table by Career ranking.
The players marked in bold are currently active; others finished the career.

	Player	Nationality	Goals
			XXI	XX	Career
1	Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	462		462
2	Lionel Messi	Argentina	451		451
3	Zlatan Ibrahimović	Sweden	379	13	392
4	Luis Suárez	Uruguay	332		332
5	Aleksandar Đurić	Singapore	304	35	339
6	Ali Ashfaq	Maldives	287		287
7	Robert Lewandowski	Poland	285		285
8	Samuel Eto'O	Cameroon	282	8	290
9	David Villa	Spain	280		280
10	Martin Kamburov	Bulgaria	278	1	279
11	Sergio Agüero	Argentina	277		277
12	José Alfredo Castillo	Bolivia	273	4	277
13	Carlos Saucedo	Bolivia	271		271
14	Rhys Griffiths	Wales	270		270
15	Edinson Cavani	Uruguay	262		262
16	Luís Fabiano	Brazil	258	3	261
17	Klaas-Jan Huntelaar	Netherlands	253		253
18	Gonzalo Higuaín	Argentina	251		251
19	Cristian Gonzáles	Indonesia	251		251
20	Fred (Frederico Chaves Guedes)	Brazil	244		244
21	Ricardo Oliveira	Brazil	242	1	243
22	Pablo Escobar	Bolivia	240	1	241
23	Víctor Núñez	Costa Rica	237	11	248
24	Esteban Paredes	Chile	236		236
25	Thierry Henry	France	232	52	284
26	Óscar Cardozo	Paraguay	232		232
27	Marc Lloyd Williams	Wales	232	87	319
28	Wayne Rooney	England	231		231
29	Vágner Love	Brazil	231		231
30	Dejan Damjanović	Montenegro	231		231
31	André-Pierre Gignac	France	228		228
32	Sebastián Abreu	Uruguay	227	85	312
33	Neymar	Brazil	225		225
34	Carlos Tevez	Argentina	225		225
35	Robbie Keane	Republic of Ireland	224	12	236
36	Karim Benzema	France	220		220
37	Eran Zahavi	Israel	219		219
38	Nemanja Nikolić	Hungary	219		219
39	Bafétimbi Gomis	France	217		217
40	Sebastián Tagliabúe	UAE	215		215
41	Washington	Brazil	214	26	240
42	Burak Yılmaz	Turkey	214		214
43	Dirk Kuyt	Netherlands	213	19	232
44	Radamel Falcao	Colombia	212		212
45	Humberto Suazo	Chile	210		210
46	Antonio Di Natale	Italy	209		209
47	Edin Džeko	Bosnia and Herzegovina	209		209
48	Lee Hunt	England	209		209
49	Diego Forlán	Uruguay	206	16	222
50	Vjatšeslav Zahovaiko	Estonia	206	6	212

The World’s Best Goal Scorer of XXIst Century at Jan 1, 2021: Cristiano Ronaldo      

Cristiano Ronaldo leads the category of best goal-scorers in the world top football in XXIst Century at the beginning of 2021.
The Portuguese has scored 756 goals while Lionel Messi is runner-up with 715 goals. 
Apart of them, only Zlatan Ibrahimovic managed to overcome the 500-goal mark (543). But in 2021, two others will likely do this: Luiz Suarez (now 489) and Robert Lewandowski (473).
33 players in the world have scored 300+ goals in XXIst century. They are sorted by main ranking (Total XXI).
Also we put in the table other 16 players which are below 300 goals in XXI but have reached this amount adding the goals they scored in XXth century. So, we get additional ranking (Total Career). 
These 16 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 “goal-scorers of XXIst century”. They are sorted in the table by Total Career ranking.
For the players who have goals in both centuries, those scored in XX are taken in brackets in the particular columns - NL(National League) - NC (National Cups) - ICC International Club Competitions - NT (National Team).
The players marked in bold are currently active; others finished the career.

	Player	Country	Goals				Total	Total	Total
			NL	NC	ICC	NT	XXI	XX	Career
1	Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	462	48	144	102	756		756
2	Lionel Messi	Argentina	451	67	126	71	715		715
3	Zlatan Ibrahimović	Sweden	379 (+13)	45 (+2)	57	62	543	15	558
4	Luis Suárez	Uruguay	332	42	52	63	489		489
5	Robert Lewandowski	Poland	285	47	78	63	473		473
6	Ali Ashfaq	Maldives	287	95	30	53	465		465
7	Sergio Agüero	Argentina	277	40	63	41	421		421
8	Samuel Eto'O	Cameroon	282 (+8)	27	49	51 (+5)	409	13	422
9	Edinson Cavani	Uruguay	262	46	49	51	408		408
10	Aleksandar Đurić	Singapore	304 (+35)	45	33	26	408	35	443
11	David Villa	Spain	280	18	28	59	385		385
12	Neymar	Brazil	225	38	57	64	384		384
13	Klaas-Jan Huntelaar	Netherlands	253	28	55	42	378		378
14	Luís Fabiano	Brazil	258 (+3)	52	40	28	378	3	381
15	Wayne Rooney	England	231	30	43	53	357		357
16	Ricardo Oliveira	Brazil	242 (+1)	69	39	5	355	1	356
17	Karim Benzema	France	220	35	72	27	354		354
18	Robbie Keane	Republic of Ireland	224 (+12)	36 (+2)	23 (+1)	61 (+7)	344	22	366
19	Firas Al-Khatib	Syria	185 (+5)	99	24	36	344	5	349
20	Edin Džeko	Bosnia and Herzegovina	209	30	42	59	340		340
21	Gonzalo Higuaín	Argentina	251	17	39	31	338		338
22	Didier Drogba	Ivory Coast	188	33	50	65	336		336
23	Thierry Henry	France	232 (+52)	16 (+1)	42 (+17)	43 (+8)	333	78	411
24	Fred (Frederico Chaves Guedes)	Brazil	244	37	29	18	328		328
25	Radamel Falcao	Colombia	212	20	59	35	326		326
26	Óscar Cardozo	Paraguay	232	29	52	12	325		325
27	Bader Al-Mutawa	Kuwait	136	67	63	56	322		322
28	Robin van Persie	Netherlands	204	39	29	50	322		322
29	Carlos Tevez	Argentina	225	38	42	13	318		318
30	Cristian Gonzáles	Indonesia	251	41	7	12	311		311
31	Mario Gómez	Germany	205	30	42	31	308		308
32	Eran Zahavi	Israel	219	35	23	24	301		301
33	Nemanja Nikolić	Hungary	219	61	14	7	301		301