Brazil and Hungary hold the record of having the most players to have scored 50 or more international goals with four each. England, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia and Thailand each have three players who have achieved the feat. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has the highest number of footballers who scored at least 50 international goals, with 32 players.[3]Egypt is the only African team with more than one player who has scored at least 50 international goals, after Mohamed Salah achieved the feat on 24 March 2023.[4][5]
The first player to score 50 international goals was Imre Schlosser of Hungary.[8] He achieved the feat when he scored a brace (two goals) in a 6–2 victory against Austria on 3 June 1917. In total, he scored 59 international goals in 68 matches, playing his last match on 10 April 1927.[lower-alpha 1][9] He remained the highest international goalscorer for 26 years, until his fellow countryman Ferenc Puskás broke the record in 1953. Puskás was the third player, after Poul Nielsen of Denmark, to achieve 50 goals in his international career.[11][12] Nielsen achieved this feat on his 36th cap against Sweden in the 1924–28 Nordic Football Championship on 14 June 1925 and scored 52 goals in just 38 matches in his international career.[13][14][15] Puskás netted his 50th goal on 24 July 1952, when he scored a brace in the semi-final match against Turkey at the 1952 Summer Olympics.[16] However, Vivian Woodward scored 75 goals in 53 matches considered official internationals by the opposing sides, which would make him the first footballer to score 50 or more international goals, ahead of Imre Schlosser, and was the fastest to achieve the feat, scoring his 50th goal in his 32nd official international match, with a four-goal haul against Hungary on 31 May 1909.[17]
Puskás overall scored 84 goals in his international career,[11] and remained the highest international goalscorer for 24 years following his 84th goal in 1956 against Austria, until Mokhtar Dahari of Malaysia broke the record in the Merdeka Tournament after scoring his 85th goal on 27 October 1980 against Kuwait and he went on to score 89 goals for his country in 142 international appearances.[18][19][20] In 2004, Ali Daei of Iran broke the record after scoring his 90th goal against Lebanon.[21][22]
Daei also became the first player to score over 100 goals in international football, ending his career with 109 in total.[23][24] His 100th goal came on 17 November 2004, when he scored a four-goal haul against Laos in a 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification match.[25] However, the first player from Asia to reach 50 international goals was Malaya's Abdul Ghani Minhat. Furthermore, he was also the first player from outside Europe to achieve it. He achieved the feat on 15 December 1961 against Thailand and he went on to score 58 goals in 57 international appearances for his country which is 1.02 per match, making him one of the most prolific players in the world.[26][27][28] Just two years after Puskás' scored his 50th goal, his teammate Sándor Kocsis did the same on 19 September 1954, in a friendly match against Romania.[29] He became both the fourth player and the fourth European to achieve the feat. He went on to score a total of 75 goals in 65 matches in international football.[30]Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal was the second player to score 100 international goals, as well as the first European to achieve the feat. He reached the milestone after scoring a brace against Sweden in the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League on 8 September 2020.[31]Lionel Messi of Argentina became the third player to reach and pass the milestone in a friendly match against Curaçao on 28 March 2023, as well as the first South American to achieve the feat.[32][33][34]
Pelé of Brazil was the first player from South America to score at least 50 international goals. He attained this in a friendly match against the Soviet Union on 21 November 1965, and went on to score 77 international goals in 92 matches.[35]Malawi's Kinnah Phiri was the first player from Africa, and also the youngest player, to score 50 international goals. He scored his 50th goal in a friendly match against Sierra Leone on 6 July 1978, aged 23 years, 8 months and 6 days.[36]Stern John of Trinidad and Tobago was the first player from North America to score 50 international goals. He scored 70 goals in 115 matches, with his 50th goal coming in a friendly match against the Dominican Republic on 13 June 2004.[37]
By player
As of 21:35, 25 March 2024 (UTC)
Players in bold are still active at international level.
Indicates the top scorer of all FIFA's confederations.
Indicates the top scorer of the respective confederation.
Indicates the top scorer of the respective nation.
Vivian Woodward was the first player to score 50 international goals and the fastest to achieve the feat, scoring his 50th goal in his 32nd match.
Ferenc Puskás held the record of the highest number of international goals with 84 for 47 years, following his 84th goal in 1956 against Austria, until Ali Daei broke it in 2003.
Sardar Azmoun was the most recent player to reach 50 international goals.
As of 24 March 2024 (UTC)
*NB: The term "nationality" in this section refers to the nation(s) the player represented (the national team(s) he played for), not to the nationality-ies and/or citizenship(s) he holds.
No OFC player has scored 50 goals in full internationals. The current record holder is Fiji player Roy Krishna, with 36 goals in 52 matches.[121]
Footnotes
1 2 Austrian sources reported that on 1 November 1908 Imre Schlosser scored a brace in a 5–3 victory against Austria; one Hungarian source credits the 4–2 to Béla Krempels,[9] with UEFA also recognizing 59 goals in 68 appearances.[10]
1 2 3 4 5 6 Vivian Woodward scored 29 goals in 23 matches for the professional England team between 1903 and 1911, and 46 goals in 30 matches for the England amateur side between 1906 and 1914; all matches for the Amateur side were considered official internationals for their respective opponents.[17][50] With the English Football Association counting the statistics separately for the professional England team and England amateurs, Harry Kane is the top scorer of the respective nation.[51]
↑ Matches against UAE and Morocco (in 1988), Kuwait (in 1989), Mali (twice in 1994) and Ghana (in 1997) are not considered official internationals by FIFA, but they are recognised by the Egyptian Football Association.[63]
↑ The matches against Swaziland and Zambia in 2013 are not considered official internationals by FIFA, but they are recognised by the Egyptian Football Association.[86]
↑ RSSSF does not include a goal in a match played on 29 July 2005 against UAE and a goal in a match played on 25 March 2022 against Latvia, and also wrongly attributes a goal on Al-Mutawa in the match played on 10 September 2018 against Iraq.[6][88][89] NFT (National-Football-Teams) includes a goal in the match played on 17 December 2011 against Saudi Arabia (U-23), a match though recognized neither by FIFA nor by RSSSF, and therefore it is not included here.[6][88]
↑ 4 Olympic matches are not recognised as official by FIFA, but were official for the East German FA.
Ali Daei is an Iranian football manager and former professional footballer. A striker, he was the captain of the Iranian national team between 2000 and 2006. He played in the German Bundesliga for Arminia Bielefeld, Bayern Munich and Hertha Berlin. He is regarded as one of the greatest Iranian footballers of all time as well as one of the greatest footballers from Asia.
Ferenc Puskás was a Hungarian footballer and manager, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and the sport's first international superstar. A forward and an attacking midfielder, he scored 84 goals in 85 international matches for Hungary and later played four international matches for Spain as well. He became an Olympic champion in 1952 and led his nation to the final of the 1954 World Cup. He won three European Cups, ten national championships and eight top individual scoring honors. Known as the "Galloping Major", in 1995, he was recognized as the greatest top division scorer of the 20th century by the IFFHS. Scoring 806 goals in 793 official games during his career, he is the seventh top goal scorer of all time by the RSSSF.
Hong Myung-bo is a South Korean football manager and former footballer player. who played as a sweeper, and the current head coach of Ulsan HD. Hong is often considered one of the greatest Asian footballers of all time.
The Saudi Arabia national football team represents Saudi Arabia in men's international football. They are known as Al-Suqour Al-Khodhur, a reference to their traditional colours of green and white, and represent both FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
Bader Ahmed al-Mutawa is a Kuwaiti professional footballer who plays for Qadsia. He usually operates as a second striker. He wears the jersey number 17. Al-Mutawa is the second-most-capped international player behind Cristiano Ronaldo.
André Abegglen was a Swiss football player and manager. As a forward he played for Grasshopper Club Zürich, the French club FC Sochaux-Montbéliard and the Swiss national team, for whom he appeared in two World Cups. He is the brother of Max Abegglen and Jean Abegglen, both players of the Swiss national team. He died in 1944, at the age of just 35.
This is a list of the Iran national football team's competitive records.
This is a progressive list of men's association footballers who have held or co-held the world record for international caps, beginning with Billy MacKinnon, the only man to play in all of Scotland's first seven internationals.
This is a progressive list of men's association footballers who have held or co-held the European record for international caps since 1976. The progression up to 1976 is derivable from the world record progression because the world record holder was always European, except when Ángel Romano narrowly overtook Imre Schlosser in 1924–27. After 1976, many sources, including FIFA and the Guinness Book of Records reported subsequent European cap records as world records. Retrospective validation of various Asian players' caps has subsequently shown that they exceeded the contemporary European record; most sweepingly, in 2021 FIFA recognised that Soh Chin Ann won his 109th Malaysia cap in 1976 and his 195th and final cap in 1984, which in February 2022 was the world record.
The following is a list of the India national football team's competitive records and statistics.
↑ "Almoez Ali Abdulla (Player)". National-Football-Teams.com. National Football Teams. Archived from the original on 2 January 2024. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
↑ "Sardar Azmoun (Player)". National-Football-Teams.com. National Football Teams. Archived from the original on 14 January 2024. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
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