Stats: Highest international goalscorers of all time
Republic of Ireland’s Robbie Keane has surpassed Brazil’s legenadary Ronaldo Lima in the most international goals tally thanks to a hat-trick against a hapless Gibraltar side during a 7-0 win. He got his hat-trick within the first 18 minutes but even this wasn’t enough to send Ireland on top of Group D as they remain 1 behind Poland on goal-difference.
The LA Galaxy captain now lies joint 14th on the list of top international goalscorers of all time with Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba.
He also became the leading goalscorer in Euro qualifying history ahead of Jon Dahl Tomasson (19), ?ükür (19) & Raul (18). He also broke the record for the fastest hat-trick scored during a Euro qualifier held previously by Marco van Basten.
Here is a list of highest international goalscorers of all time:
Name |
Country |
Goals |
Appearances |
| Ali Daei | Iran | 109 | 149 |
| Ferenc Puskás | Hungary | 84 | 85 |
| Kunishige Kamamoto | Japan | 80 | 84 |
| Godfrey Chitalu | Zambia | 79 | 108 |
| Pelé | Brazil | 77 | 92 |
| Sándor Kocsis | Hungary | 75 | 68 |
| Bashar Abdullah | Kuwait | 75 | 133 |
| Majed Abdullah | Saudi Arabia | 71 | 116 |
| Miroslav Klose | Germany | 71 | 137 |
| Stern John | Trinidad and Tobago | 70 | 115 |
| Kiatisuk Senamuang | Thailand | 70 | 131 |
| Gerd Müller | West Germany | 68 | 62 |
| Hossam Hassan | Egypt | 68 | 176 |
| Didier Drogba | Ivory Coast | 65 | 104 |
| Robbie Keane | Republic of Ireland | 65 | 137 |
| Jassem Al-Houwaidi | Kuwait | 63 | 74 |
|
Ronaldo
|
Brazil | 62 | 98 |
| Hussein Saeed | Iraq | 61 | 126 |
| Imre Schlosser | Hungary | 59 | 68 |
| David Villa | Spain | 59 | 97 |
For the record, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo has 50 goals from 114 matches and Argentina’s Leo Messi has 42 goals from 94 matches.
England’s Wayne Rooney scored against Estonia and now has 43 goals to his name just 6 behind the all time record for his country held by Sir Bobby Charlton.
Trivia for Indian fans: Sunil Chhetri has 42 goals from 73 matches. Meanwhile favourites from Group D Germany lost 2-0 to Poland and superstar Mario Gotze reacted to a silly question by a journalist.
Keane, 34 is the only active footballer on the Top 20 list and looks good to move even higher up the charts with a bulk of Euro 2016 qualifiers still to be played.