Ste McGovern
Cristiano Ronaldo reaffirmed his place atop the all-time list of international goalscorers with a brace for Portugal this week.
The former Manchester United and Real Madrid striker scored twice against Slovakia to help the national team qualify for Euro 2024 – and increase his tally of international goals to 125.
Ronaldo is well clear of the chasing pack when it comes to the greatest scorers in the global game, 17 ahead of previous record holder Ali Daei of Iran.
Leo Messi isn’t too far behind, as he sits on 104 goals in 177 caps for Argentina, seven of which came during the country’s World Cup triumph in Qatar last winter. The Inter Miami forward is still lining out for La Albiceleste, so like Ronaldo he could continue to add to his overall number before retiring.
How far ahead of the rest are they? The likes of Robert Lewandowski, Romelu Lukaku, Neymar and Luis Suarez all hold the goalscoring record for their respective nations, but none are likely to catch them.
It could be up to Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé to chase them down.
The top 30 international goalscorers of all time:
=30. Edin Dzeko, Bosnia & Herzegovina – 65
=30. Didier Drogba, Côte d’Ivoire – 65
=25. Luis Suarez, Uruguay – 68
=25. Robbie Keane, Republic of Ireland – 68
=25. Hossam Hassan, Egypt – 68
=25. Carlos Ruiz, Guatemala – 68
=25. Gerd Müller, West Germany – 68
=22. Piyapong Pue-on, Thailand – 70
=22. Abdul Kadir, Indonesia – 70
=22. Stern John, Trinidad & Tobago – 70
=19. Miroslav Klose, Germany – 71
=19. Kiatisuk Senamuang, Thailand – 71
=19. Kinnah Phiri, Malawi – 71
18. Majed Abdullah, Saudi Arabia – 72
=14. Bashar Abdullah, Kuwait – 75
=14. Sándor Kocsis, Hungary – 75
=14. Kunishige Kamamoto, Japan – 75
=14. Vivian Woodward, England & England amateurs – 75
13. Pelé, Brazil – 77
=11. Romelu Lukaku, Belgium – 78
=11. Hussein Saeed, Iraq – 78
=9. Neymar, Brazil – 79
=9. Godfrey Chitalu, Zambia – 79
=7. Robert Lewandowski, Poland – 81
=7. Ali Mabkhout, UAE – 81
6. Ferenc Puskás, Hungary – 84
5. Mokhtar Dahari, Malaysia – 89
4. Sunil Chetri, India – 93
3. Lionel Messi, Argentina – 104
2. Ali Daei, Iran – 108
1. Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal – 125
Read – Five former England regulars struggling to make Euro 2024
See Also – The best England players without a cap
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