Cristiano Ronaldo may be turning 39 years old in just over a month, but he remains on top of the football world for yet another calendar year.
The Portuguese superstar has dominated the scoring charts in Saudi Arabia, helping Al Nassr to challenge for trophies domestically and abroad. He’s also pitched in feverishly for the Portugal national team in front of net, proving he can perform on the European stage despite moving his club career to the Asian confederation.
Between club and country, Ronaldo will finish 2023 as the global top goalscorer in men’s football for the latest calendar year.
In his prolific campaign, Ronaldo is currently atop the Saudi Pro League goalscoring chart and finished Euro 2024 qualifying as the competition’s leading goal marksman. There seems little doubt he will lead his country’s challenge at the finals of Euro 2024 in Germany next year.
What a year it’s been for Ronaldo, just inching past Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe for the global mark.
MORE: All of Lionel Messi’s longest goalscoring streaks in his club and national-team career
Top goal scorers in the world: Most scored globally in 2023
Al Nassr star Cristiano Ronaldo leads all global scorers in 2023 with 54 goals for club and country.
In a year in which he finished his career with Tottenham and made a sparkling start to his time with Bayern Munich, Harry Kane fell just short of the top spot, ending 2023 with 52 goals as the German league entered its winter break. Same for Kylian Mbappe, who bagged the same total before PSG’s schedule wrapped for the year.
Man City have a few more games to go, but Erling Haaland will not get the chance to challenge as a foot injury troubled him through December. He is not expected to play again until January.
Ferencvaros frontman Barnabas Varga is a lesser-known challenger, as his club form in the Hungarian top flight and Europa Conference League helped the 29-year-old earn a place on the Hungary national team where he bagged four goals in his first seven international appearances.
Over in the Americas, where their club seasons are played across a calendar-year schedule, LAFC forward Denis Bouanga won the MLS Golden Boot and set the league record for goals in a year across all competitions, beating his teammate Carlos Vela’s mark. Fluminense striker German Cano led his Brazilian club to its first-ever Copa Libertadores title and the final of the FIFA Club World Cup.
| Pos. | Player | Goals | Club | Nation |
| 1. | Cristiano Ronaldo | 54 | Al Nassr | Portugal |
| 2. | Harry Kane | 52 | Bayern Munich | England |
| Kylian Mbappe | 52 | PSG | France | |
| 4. | Erling Haaland | 50 | Man City | Norway |
| 5. | Denis Bouanga | 40 | LAFC | Gabon |
| German Cano | 40 | Fluminense | Argentina | |
| 7. | Santiago Gimenez | 39 | Feyenoord | Mexico |
| Romelu Lukaku | 39 | AS Roma | Belgium | |
| Barnabas Varga | 39 | Ferencvaros | Hungary | |
| 10. | Lautaro Martinez | 37 | Inter Milan | Argentina |
Top global goal scorers for past 10 years
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are well known for their goal scoring prowess, but the global leader in goals for a calendar year has actually been spread across a number of players, nations, clubs, and continents over the previous decade.
Ronaldo and Messi appear on the list a combined four times, but others show up as well. Robert Lewandowski‘s two-year run through the COVID seasons saw him famously robbed of a Ballon d’Or, while Harry Kane paced the field in 2017, fittingly replacing Lewandowski at Bayern this season.
| Year | Player | Goals | Club | Nation |
| 2023 | Cristiano Ronaldo | 54 | Al Nassr | Portugal |
| 2022 | Kylian Mbappe | 56 | PSG | France |
| 2021 | Robert Lewandowski | 69 | Bayern Munich | Poland |
| 2020 | Robert Lewandowski | 47 | Bayern Munich | Poland |
| 2019 | Abderrazak Hamdallah | 57 | Al Nassr | Morocco |
| 2018 | Baghdad Bounedjah | 58 | Al Sadd | Algeria |
| 2017 | Harry Kane | 56 | Tottenham | England |
| 2016 | Lionel Messi | 58 | Barcelona | Argentina |
| 2015 | Cristiano Ronaldo | 57 | Real Madrid | Portugal |
| 2014 | Cristiano Ronaldo | 61 | Real Madrid | Portugal |
Top goal scorers in a calendar year all-time record
The official FIFA record for most goals in a single calendar year is held by Lionel Messi whose legendary 2012 romp saw him bag 91 goals for club and country, helping lead Barcelona to the 2012/13 La Liga title and reaching the Champions League semifinals in both 2011/12 and 2012/13.
In that run, Messi also set the record for most consecutive games with a goal in a single competition, netting in a bonkers 21 straight La Liga matches.
Messi’s mark broke a 40-year record held by German superstar Gerd Muller who has seen his 85-goal tally in 1972 hold up across an astonishing four decades.
However, there’s one submission not officially recognised that some believe still holds the record. Godfrey Chitalu of Zambia, who played most of his club career for Kabwe Warriors, is claimed to have scored 116 goals in 1972, the same season Muller set his official record that would last for 40 years. Despite this, FIFA did not monitor the Zambian domestic competition so it was never officially confirmed.
| Year | Player | Goals | Club | Nation |
| 2012 | Lionel Messi | 91 | Barcelona | Argentina |
| 1972 | Gerd Muller | 85 | Bayern Munich | Germany |
| 1958 | Pele | 75 | Santos | Brazil |
| 1965 | Pele | 72 | Santos | Brazil |
| 1979 | Zico | 72 | Flamengo | Brazil |
| 2000 | Romario | 72 | Fluminense | Brazil |
| 2021 | Robert Lewandowski | 69 | Bayern Munich | Poland |
| 2013 | Cristiano Ronaldo | 69 | Real Madrid | Portugal |