Top 10 active goalscorers in international football

#3 Lionel Messi (Argentina) – 70 goals

In the perenially raging ‘GOAT’ debates, what has kept Messi from claiming the title outright has been his inability to win a trophy with Argentina. He came close on three occasions, guiding his side to the finals of the 2014 World Cup and 2015 and 2016 Copa Americas, but fell short each time.

Yet, that shouldn’t gloss over an otherwise stellar international football career. The evergreen Barcelona ace is the top scorer in South America for World Cup qualifiers, and also holds the record for being the youngest Argentine scorer in the tournament proper. He also has six hat-tricks to his name.

Some of his enduring memories in the blue and white colors are the treble against Brazil in 2012, the sublime stoppage-time winner against Iran in 2014, the world-class free-kick against the USA in 2016, and the World Cup-rescuing hat-trick against Ecuador in 2017.

#2 Sunil Chhetri (India) – 72 goals

It’s quite something to be ranked alongside legends such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo despite your country’s poor record in international football, but Sunil Chhetri is no ordinary player.

Widely considered to be the finest Indian player, he’s affectionately known as ‘captain fantastic’ in his homeland, and also holds the record for both goals and appearances for the Blue Tigers.

His most productive year was 2011 when Chhetri netted 13 goals and has led India to the AFC Challenge Cup title in 2008 and the SAFF Championship in 2011 and 2015.

With 72 goals, the Bangalore FC striker is just five behind Pele’s tally, but given he’s now 36 years old, Chettri probably acknowledges it’s too late to grab the number one spot on this list.

#1 Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) – 99 goals

At the turn of 2013, guess how many goals Ronaldo had for Portugal? Just 32. Yes, you read that right – ONLY THIRTY-TWO. And the figure shrinks further when you see he managed those in a staggering 100 caps!

Languishing well below in this chart, the prospect of the ex-Real Madrid star ever hitting a century of international football goals looked as far-fetched as it could. And yet, here we are in 2020, with Ronaldo just one goal away from another piece of history.

Since 2013, he’s struck 10+ goals for the Seleccao in a calendar year four times, with his best returns coming last year when Ronaldo scored 14 goals. And how many hat-tricks? Nine!

His best ones include the World Cup-rescuing treble against Sweden in the 2013 play-offs, and then against Spain at the 2018 World Cup.

With the Euro 2016 and UEFA Nations League 2020/21 titles under his belt, Ronaldo now has his sights set on the all-time record of 109 goals. Ali Daei, he’s coming for you!