NEW ALL TIME RECORD FOR DEFENDERS
James Tavernier set new all-time record for defenders!
Rangers right-back James Tavernier has scored 9 international goals in 2022. This is new all-time world record for defenders.
The previous record, 8 international goals in a calendar year, belonged jointly to Ian Harte (2001), David Alaba (2013) and Abdelkarim Hassan (2019).
Unlike these players which filled their tallies by goals scored both for clubs and country, Tavernier has no chance to score for country (being never called to his national team, England).
All his 9 goals in 2022 came in European club competitions: 7 in Europa League and 2 in Champions League.
In the ranking below, the tie-breaker for equal number of total goals is the number of national team goals.
| DEFENDERS | WITH | MOST | INTERNATIONAL | |||||
| GOALS | IN | A | CALENDAR YEAR | |||||
| Player | Year | Role | Club | Country | Goals | Total | ||
| ICC | NT | |||||||
| 1 | James Tavernier | 2022 | RB | Rangers (Scotland) | England | 9 | 9 | |
| 2 | David Alaba | 2013 | LB | Bayern (Germany) | Austria | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| Abdelkarim Hassan | 2019 | LB | Al Sadd | Qatar | 3 | 5 | 8 | |
| 4 | Ian Harte | 2001 | LB | Leeds (England) | Republic of Ireland | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| 5 | Ronald Koeman | 1994 | CB | Barcelona (Spain) | Netherlands | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| 6 | Fernando Hierro | 1999 | CB | Real Madrid | Spain | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| 7 | John Arne Riise | 2009 | LB | Roma (Italy) | Norway | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Sergio Ramos | 2018 | CB | Real Madrid | Spain | 2 | 4 | 6 | |
| Sergio Ramos | 2019 | CB | Real Madrid | Spain | 2 | 4 | 6 | |
| 10 | Manfred Kaltz | 1980 | RB | Hamburg | Germany | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Ronald Koeman | 1990 | CB | Barcelona (Spain) | Netherlands | 3 | 3 | 6 | |
| 12 | Ronald Koeman | 1993 | CB | Barcelona (Spain) | Netherlands | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| 13 | Naldo | 2009 | CB | Werder (Germany) | Brazil | 6 | 6 |
ICC – International Club Competitions
NT – National Team