All-time Bundesliga top scorers: Gerd Muller on top, but no current players on the list
The German Bundesliga is slowly starting to fascinate viewers across the world. The competition, which was initiated in the year 1963, has largely been dominated by Bayern Munich (the most decorated club with 24 league titles) over the past decade, with their major competition coming from rivals Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, FC Schalke, Werder Bremen and VfL Wolfsburg.
The Bundesliga boasts some extremely talented players and international stars like Arjen Robben, Frank Ribery and Manuel Neuer. The likes of Robert Lewandowski, Stefan Kiessling and Thomas Muller are the leading marksmen who have been topping the goalscoring charts for the past few years.
The league has, of course, also been witness to the legendary Gerd Muller, who holds an incredible goal scoring record both at international and club level. Muller was a class act, but there were also a few others who got close to matching his records, like Klaus Fischer, Manfred Burgsmuller and Jupp Heynckes.
Germany are renowned for producing top quality home-grown strikers. So let’s have a look at the players featuring in the all-time Bundesliga top scorers list, as well the top scorers among the players who are still active in the game.
All-time German Bundesliga top goal scorers
Gerd Muller leads the goalscoring charts in Bundesliga history with 365 goals. The former Bayern Munich star is regarded as one of football’s greatest strikers for his clinical finishing and killer instinct inside the penalty box. He also has an incredible goal scoring tally at international level, netting 68 goals in 62 appearances for Die Mannschaft.
Realistically speaking, there is currently no active player in the league capable of matching his record.
Klaus Fischer is second on the list, scoring 268 goals in 535 appearances in the league. He was known for his bicycle kicks, and played for four different clubs including FC Koln and FC Schalke.
Much to our surprise, there is no active Bundesliga player featuring in the league’s all-time top goal scorers list. Claudio Pizzaro comes the closest, but he announced his retirement after playing his last season with FC Bayern Munich (2014/15).
Here’s a look at the all-time Bundesliga top goal scorers (all stats have been collected from the official website of the German Bundesliga):
| No | Player | Clubs | Season | Appearances | Goals | Goals/Game |
| 1 | Gerd Muller |
FC Bayern Munich |
1964- 1979 |
427 | 365 | 0.85 |
| 2 | Klaus Fischer |
TSV 180 Munchen FC Shalke 04 1 FC Koln VfL Bochum |
1968-1970
1970-1981 1981-1984 1984-1988 |
60
305 96 84 |
28
182 31 27 |
|
| Total | 535 | 268 | 0.50 | |||
| 3 | Jupp Heynckes |
Borussia Monchengladbach Hannover 96 Borussia Monchengladbach |
1963-1967 1967-1970
1970-1978 |
82 86
226 |
50 25
168
|
|
| Total | 369 | 220 | 0.59 | |||
| 4 | Manfred Burgsmuller |
Rot-Weiss Essen Bayer Uerdingen Rot-Weiss Essen Bayer Uerdingen Borussia Dortmund 1 FC Nurnberg Werder Bremen |
1968-1971 1971-1974 1974-1976 1976 1976-1983 1983-84 1985-1990 |
12 101 64 7 224 34 115 |
0 80 32 1 135 12 34 |
|
| Total | 447 | 213 | 0.47 | |||
| 5 | Ulf Kirsten | Bayer Leverkusen | 1990-2003 | 350 | 182 | 0.52 |
| 6 | Stefan Kuntz |
VfL Bochum Bayer 05 Uerdingen 1 FC Kaiserslautern Arminia Bielefeld VfL Bochum |
1983-86 1986-1989
1989-1995 1996-1998 1998-1999 |
100 94
170 65 20 |
41 32
75 25 6 |
|
| Total | 449 | 179 | 0.39 | |||
| 7 | Klaus Allofs |
Fortuna Dusseldorf 1 FC Koln Werder Bremen |
1975-1981 1981-1987 1990-1993 |
169 177 78 |
71 88 18 |
|
| Total | 424 | 177 | 0.42 | |||
| Dieter Muller |
1 FC Koln VfB Stuttgart 1 FC Saarbrucken |
1973-1981 1981-1982 1985-1986 |
248 30 23 |
159 14 4 |
||
| Total | 303 | 177 | 0.58 | |||
| 9 | Claudio Pizzaro |
Werder Bremen Bayern Munich Werder Bremen (loan) Weder Bremen FC Bayern Munich |
1999-2001 2001-2007 2008-2009 2009-2012 2012-present |
56 174 26 77 50 |
29 71 17 43 16 |
|
| Total | 383 | 176 | 0.46 | |||
| 10 | Hannes Lohr | 1 FC Koln | 1964-1978 | 381 | 166 | 0.44 |
Top 4 German Bundesliga goal scorers who are still active in the game
Former Bayern Munich striker Mario Gomez tops the charts here, followed by Stefan Kiessling, Miroslav Klose and Kevin Kuranyi who are all German nationals. Gomez had a promising start to his Bayern Munich career but failed to live up to the expectations at the Allianz Arena, and a sudden dip in form saw him move to the Italian side Fiorentina.
Miroslav Klose is the top goalscorer in the history of the FIFA World Cup with 16 goals. He was sublime for Die Mannschaft and played in two of Germany’s biggest teams – Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich. However, Klose has been more far reliable for the national team than at the club level.
Here’s the Top 4 list:
| No | Player | Clubs |
Season |
Appearances | Goals | Goals/Game |
| 1 | Mario Gomez |
VfB Stuttgart FC Bayern Munich |
2003-2009 2009-2013 |
121 115 |
63 75 |
|
|
Total |
236 |
138 |
0.58 | |||
| 2 | Stefan Kiessling |
1 FC Nurnberg Bayer Leverkusen |
2003-2006 2006-present |
73 287 |
15 123 |
|
| Total | 348 | 136 | 0.39 | |||
| 3 | Miroslav Klose |
1 FC Kaiserslautern Werder Bremen Bayern Munich |
1999-2004 2004-2007 2007-2011 |
120 85 98 |
44 50 24 |
|
| Total | 307 |
121 |
0.39 | |||
| 4 | Kevin Kuranyi |
VfB Stuttgart FC Schalke 04 |
2001-2005 2005-2010 |
99 162 |
40 71 |
|
| Total | 264 | 111 | 0.42 | |||
Top 10 goal scorers who are still playing in the German Bundesliga
Stefan Kiessling, who has been with Bayer Leverkusen since 2006, tops the list here, and is followed by the Polish striker Robert Lewandowski, Vedad Ibisevic and Marcelinho – who are all playing in the top division of German football.
Even though the Leverkusen skipper has the most number of goals, Dutch international Arjen Robben from Bayern Munich has a better games per goal ratio (0.56) than the tall German striker.
Here are the 10 players in the list:
| No | Player | Appearances | Goals |
| 1 | Stefan Kiessling | 348 | 136 |
| 2 | Robert Lewandowski | 165 | 93 |
| 3 | Vedad Ibisevic | 202 | 82 |
| 4 | Marcelinho | 205 | 77 |
| 5 | Thomas Muller | 200 | 76 |
| 6 | Alexander Meier | 235 | 75 |
| 7 | Marco Reus | 182 | 75 |
| 8 | Arjen Robben | 130 | 74 |
| 9 | Ivica Olic | 231 | 72 |
| 10 | Lukas Podolski | 210 | 70 |
Note: Stats updated as on 31st August 2015