Most goals in international football: Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi top scoring charts
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are the top two international goal scorers in men’s football.
Football
In an era of club football’s overwhelming popularity, scoring goals while donning the national jersey is still an experience every footballer yearns for.
Then there are a few players who have experienced the feeling over and over again, etching their names in the history books.
Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, with 135 goals in 217 matches and counting, has scored the most goals in international football in the men’s game.
Cristiano Ronaldo has been netting goals regularly since making his debut for the Portuguese national side in 2003 and has 10 hat-tricks to his name - also the most in international football.
Any mention of Cristiano Ronaldo, however, feels incomplete without drawing comparisons to fellow modern-day icon Lionel Messi.
Lionel Messi (112 goals) is second in the all-time top international goal scorers' list after Cristiano Ronaldo.
Interestingly, Indian football talisman Sunil Chhetri is fourth overall in the all-time international goal scorers’ list. Chhetri played a major role in India’s footballing fortunes in the last decade, earning legendary status in the nation’s sporting history.
However, it’s not just the 21st-century stars featured in the record books.
Legends like Iran’s Ali Daei, the first football player to score 100 international goals, Ferenc Puskas of Hungary, who scored an astounding 84 goals in 89 matches, also find a place in the roll of honour.
Ali Daei, with 108 goals, is also the top international scorer among Asian players while Godfrey Chitalu of Zambia sits on top in the list of African footballers.
Cristiano Ronaldo is the most accomplished European goal scorer of all-time while Lionel Messi and Trinidad and Tobago’s Stern John (69 goals) hold the continental perches for South and North America, respectively.
Curiously, Germany’s Miroslav Klose - the player with most goals (16) in the FIFA World Cup - doesn’t feature in the top 10 all-time international goal scorer’s list. Klose has scored 71 goals in 137 caps. Three-time World Cup winner Pele, with 77 goals in 92 matches, is the second-highest goal scorer for Brazil after Neymar, who has netted 79 goals and is the fifth-most prolific active goal scorer (currently playing).
Top 10 international goal scorers in men’s football
Women’s football, meanwhile, is dominated by North American footballers when it comes to goal scoring.
Canada’s captain Christine Sinclair, who led her side to its first Olympic gold medal in football at Tokyo 2020, occupies the top spot with a mammoth 190 goals.
Two-time Olympic gold medallist and World Cup winner Abby Wambach of the USA is second with 184 goals, followed by her compatriot Mia Hamm in third.
Interestingly, women’s football has all top ten scorers with 100 international goals or more, compared to just three in men’s football.