CONMEBOL HIGHEST SCORING DEFENDER OF XXI CENTURY


CONMEBOL  Highest Scoring Defender of XXI Century: Dani Alves 

Dani Alves, currently awaiting a court verdict, leads the ranking of most scoring South American defenders in XXI century after 2023.
He has scored as many goals (75) as Juninho (Anselmo Vendrechovski Júnior) and takes the top position due to tie-breaker (more international goals, ICC + NT).
All 6 highest positions in the ranking are occupied by Brazilians; among 25 South American defenders who reached 50 top level goals in this century 19 are from Brazil.
3 other players are below 300 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. They are also listed in the table but not classified.


 HIGHEST   SCORING DEFENDERS       
 IN XXI CENTURY CONMEBOL    2001-2023       
           
 PlayerRoleCountryDLDCICCNTTotalTotalTotal
        XXIXXCareer
1Dani AlvesRBBrazil401116875 75
2JuninhoCBBrazil62112 75 75
3NaldoCBBrazil 54613 73 73
4Ânderson LimaRB Brazil48911 682694
5Léo MouraRB Brazil5277 66 66
6Fábio Santos LB Brazil6114 66 66
7Matías RodríguezRBArgentina 4898 65 65
8Luisão CBBrazil341413364 64
9Diego LuganoCBUruguay 4246961 61
10Roberto CarlosLBBrazil416866164125
11Andrés TúñezCBVenezuela 40174 61 61
12Juan CBBrazil317157601171
13Victor CardozoCB Brazil5333 59 59
14Gabriel RB Brazil5072 59 59
15Alex CBBrazil42214 58 58
16Maxi PereiraRBUruguay 4338357 57
17RéverCB Brazil4439157 57
18Antônio Carlos CBBrazil4664 56 56
19Reinaldo LBBrazil4528 55 55
20MarceloLBBrazil3279654 54
21Thiago SilvaCBBrazil3286753 53
22Nicolás SánchezCBArgentina 4067 53 53
23Diego GodínCBUruguay 3149852 52
24ChicãoCBBrazil4372 52 52
25Leonardo SilvaCBBrazil 4514 50 50
 Jersson GonzálezRBColombia 38 21411960
 Lúcio CBBrazil3058447552
 Gustavo NeryLBBrazil2465 351550


DL – domestic leagues (national and regional top tier)
DC – relevant domestic cups
ICC – international club competitions
NT – national team

Period:
from January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2023 (for the ranking Total XXI);
from career start to December 31, 2023 (for the ranking Total Career).