IFFHS WORLD'S BEST NATIONAL GOAL SCORER OF XXI CENTURY (2001-2020) - (CRISTIANO RONALDO)

• Jan 6, 2021
• IFFHS News

Picture : Cristiano Ronaldo the greatest Goal Scorer of XXI Century in National League games.

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

Cristiano Ronaldo is currently the best goal-scorer of the top national leagues in world football in XXI Century after 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 XXI 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 XXI but have reached this amount adding the goals they scored in XX 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 XXI century (respectively, not more than 35 percent in XX) so they can be conditionally considered as “goal-scorers of XXI century”. They are sorted in the table by Career ranking.
The players marked in bold are currently active; others finished the career.

Ranking The World’s Best National Goal Scorer of XXI Century at Jan 1, 2021

	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
51	Mario Gómez	Germany	205		205
52	Andrew Waterworth	Northern Ireland	205		205
53	Robin van Persie	Netherlands	204		204
54	Klæmint Olsen	Faroe Islands	204		204
55	Grafite	Brazil	203		203
56	Francesco Totti	Italy	201	49	250
57	Marcus Berg	Sweden	200		200
58	Jason Byrne	Republic of Ireland	200	17	217
	Maksim Gruznov	Estonia	199	105	304
	Roy Makaay	Netherlands	168	89	257
	Claudio Pizarro	Peru	185	51	236
	Ruud van Nistelrooy	Netherlands	159	73	232
	Mirko Grabovac	Singapore	174	53	227
	Ionel Dănciulescu	Romania	148	77	225
	Anvar Berdiyev	Uzbekistan	164	61	225
	Yevgeniy Boldygin	Kyrgyzstan	154	68	222
	Roman Vasilyuk	Belarus	143	78	221
	Magno Alves	Brazil	188	28	216
	Lee Dong-gook	South Korea	196	18	214
	Alessandro Del Piero	Italy	152	61	213
	Daniel Huss	Luxembourg	185	28	213
	Vioresin Sinani	Albania	179	34	213
	Alex (Alexsandro de Souza)	Brazil	183	27	210
	Dimitar Berbatov	Bulgaria	181	28	209
	Alexander Frei	Switzerland	191	18	209
	Daniel Xhafaj	Albania	176	31	207
	Povilas Lukšys	Lithuania	181	24	205
	Zafar Kholmurodov	Uzbekistan	151	49	200

 

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, 2020 (for the ranking XXI);

from career start to December 31, 2020 (for the ranking Career).