Germany Top Scorers of All Time

According to Germany national football team statistics and records, Miroslav Klose is Germany’s all-time top scorer. Although so, Klose’s international goal-to-appearance ratio is still behind another top footballer on the list whom we will let you know shortly.

In fact, the difference of the goals Klose and that footballer have scored for Germany is very thin while that footballer’s international goal-to-appearance ratio doubles that of Klose and even more. In fact, he has the best international goal-to-appearance ratio on the list of Germany all-time top scorers.

A List of Germany National Team All-Time Top Scorers

Let’s see which footballers occupy the list of Germany national team all-time top scorers - indeed based on Germany national football team statistics and records - and who that footballer on the list with the best goal-to-appearance ratio is.

Miroslav Klose (71 Goals)

Number one on the list of

Germany top scorers of all time

, Miroslav Klose is the 43-year-old retired German footballer who retired in 2016 after a 18-year career which had started in 1998. Klose served the German national team between 2001 and 2014 and during this time made a total of 137 appearances and scored 71 goals for them which gets him an international goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.52 meaning that the retired German forward scored a little bit more than one goal (exactly 1.04) in every two appearances for his country’s national team.

took part in four editions of World Cup, namely the 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014 editions of the competition, and actually won the 2006 edition with the German national team and finished as runners-up in 2002 edition. Before him, it was Gerd Muller who topped the list of Germany national team all-time top scorers, but just before the last World Cup Klose took part in - the 2014 World Cup - the page turned, and Klose broke Muller’s record with his 69th international goal that he scored in a friendly against Armenia.

Later in World Cup 2014, he also took part in a World Cup match against Ghana - actually as a substitute for Mario Gotze and in 69th minute - rescuing his team who were trailing 2-1 with the goal he scored just two minutes after he was substituted in 71th minute and actually becoming the third player in the history of football to have scored in four editions of World Cup alongside Pele and his fellowman, Uwe Seeler, who is also on the list of Germany top scorers of all time. It might be interesting for you to know that later in the same World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo also joined the trio with the goal he scored against Spain, though that goal didn’t help his team from being eliminated in the round of 16.

And from all the 71 goals Klose scored for Germany none were scored from the penalty spot which means all his goals were non-penalty goals. The first goal Klose scored for Germany was in March 24, 2001 and in a world cup qualifying match against

, and the last goal he scored for Germany was in July 8, 2014 in Germany’s non-believable 7-1 victory against Brazil in semi-finals which also increased his World Cup goals to 16, a record which has not been broken yet - in fact, to this date.

Gerd Muller (68 Goals)

And here comes the top, or better said, legendary footballer whom we spoke of at the start of this post as having the best international goal-to-appearance ratio among Germany all-time top scorers: Gerd Muller. Before his goalscoring record was broken by Miroslav Klose in 2014, Muller actually topped the list of

Germany national team all-time top scorers

with 68 goals, and he kept his position actually for 40 years - from 1974 that he scored his 68th international goal in Germany’s 2-1 win against Netherlands in 1974 World Cup until 2014 that his record was broken by Miroslav Klose.

Despite that Muller’s goalscoring record was broken, he’s still number one on the list of Germany top scorers of all time concerning his international goal-to-appearance ratio. We mean no other German top scorer has ever registered a better international goal-to-appearance ratio than him. Well, let’s see what that ratio is. It is 1.1 which comes from the 68 goals Muller scored in his 62 international appearances meaning that he scored one goal and a little more in every international appearance.

Muller’s first international goal was scored against Albania, when he was 22 years old, in 1968 UEFA Euro qualifying round. In that math, the young Muller scored 4 goals out of Germany’s 6 goals. He also repeated that 4-goals-in-a-match in a match against Cyprus in 1969 which ended in Germany’s 12-0 win, in a match against the former USSR in 1972 which ended in Germany’s 4-1 win - he actually scored all Germany’s goals in that match, and finally in a match against Switzerland in the same year which ended in Germany’s 5-1 win.

It might be interesting for you to know that Muller scored all his 68 international goals in 7 years from 1967 to 1974, averagely almost 10 goals in each year of his service to the German national team, while Klose scored all his 71 international goals in 13 years from 2001 to 2004 which means he scored averagely 5.4 goals for the German national team in each year of his service to them which in turn means Muller was a more prolific scorer than him. And finally from all Muller’s 68 international goals 4 were scored from the penalty spot which decreases his non-penalty goals to 64.

Lukas Podolski (49 Goals)

From here on on the list of Germany top scorers of all time, no other footballer has scored more than 50 international goals. As you see, it’s a difference of around 20 goals with the first and second positions on the list and means that the occupiers of these positions will be hardly replaced even in the future unless a really top scorer emerges - someone like Ronaldo for Instance - and does the trick. Anyway, let’s get to Lukas Podolski who actually occupies the third position on the list of Germany top scorers of all time.

As you see,

scored 49 international goals during his career and in 130 appearances which actually gets him the second lowest goal-to-appearance ratio on the list: 0.38 which means he scored almost 2 goals (exactly 1.9) in every 5 appearances that he made for the German national team. He actually served Germany’s national team between 2004 and 2017 and before that he had also served his country’s U17, U18, U19, and U21 teams making 21 appearances and scoring 12 goals for them in the process.

Despite not being a prolific goalscorer, Podolski managed to score 4 goals for his country’s national team - what Klose didn’t achieve during his career - in a match against San Marino in 2006 which ended in Germany’s 13-0 win. Although Podolski’s first appearance for the German national team was in June 2004 - against Hungary, it took him seven months to score his first goal for them which actually occurred in a friendly match against

in December 2004. Podolski scored two goals in that match which ended in Germany’s 5-1 win.

And what about Podolski’s last international goal? Well, that actually happened in a friendly against England in March 2017. Podolski scored Germany’s single winning goal in the 69 minutes. From among all the 49 goals Podolski scored for the German national team 3 were scored from the penalty spot which means he scored 46 non-penalty international goals during his career.

Jurgen Klinsmann (47 Goals)

The great Jurgen Klinsmann of Germany whom is called even legendary by some fans actually occupies the fourth position on the list of

Germany top scorers of all time

. He is 57 years old by now and during his footballing time he served both Germany and West Germany national teams making 108 appearances and scoring 47 goals for them which gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.43 meaning that he scored a little bit more than 2 goals (exactly 2.15) in every 5 appearances that he made for his country’s national team.

Klinsmann’s first international appearance actually occurred in December 1987 in a friendly against Brazil which ended in a 1-1 draw, however, Klinsmann scored his first international goal around five months later in April 26, 1988 again in a friendly but against Switzerland which ended in the then West Germany’s 1-0 win. As you see,

scored the only goal of the match and at 58 minutes.

Although a great footballer, Klinsmann was never a prolific goalscorer and that you can easily notice not only from his international goal-to-appearance ratio but also from the fact that he only scored in 39 of his 108 international appearances and in none of the international matches he took part in, he scored more than 2 goals. Despite this, Klinsmann took part in 3 editions of FIFA World Cup, namely the 1990, 1994, and 1998 editions of the competition, and actually won the first one (1990 World Cup) with his country’s national team - the then West Germany. He scored in all these three editions of FIFA World Cup and by doing so became the first footballer in the history of football to score in three consecutive editions of World Cup.

Klinsmann’s last international goal was scored in June 1998 in the 75th minute of a World Cup match against Mexico which ended in Germany’s 2-1 win, and although it was his last international goal, it was not his last international appearance since he made one more appearance in the same World Cup and in a match against Croatia just five days later which ended in Germany’s 3-0 loss. And from all the 47 international goals Klinsmann scored 3 were scored from the penalty spot which means he scored 44 non-penalty international goals during his career.

Rudi Voller (46 Goals)

Klinsmann’s attacking partner in Germany’s national team during 1990s, Rudi Voller is a 61-year-old retired footballer who scored  46 goals in his 90 appearances for the

between 1982 and 1994 which gets him an international goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.51 meaning that he scored a little bit more than one goal (exactly 1.02) in every two appearances for his country’s national team.

As you see, Voller’s international goal-to-appearance ratio is a little bit better than that of Klinnsman but not much. He was not a prolific goalscorer either, and he only scored in 36 appearances out of his 90 international appearances which means he only scored in his every 2.5 international appearances. And like Klinnsman, he also never scored more than 2 goals in a single international match.

Voller’s first international goal was scored in 1984 UEFA Euro qualifying round in a match against Albania which ended in Germany’s 2-1 win, and his last against Belgium in a 1994 World Cup round-of-16 match which ended in Germany’s 3-2 win. Voller scored two goals in that match, one in 5 minutes and another one in 39 minutes. And from all the 46 international goals Voller scored 1 was scored from the penalty spot which decreases his non-penalty goals to 45, however, if we sort the list of Germany top scorers of all time based on non-penalty goals, then Voller should replace Klinnsman on the list since he has scored one more non-penalty goal than him.

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (45 Goals)

One of the legendary footballers on the list of

Germany top scorers of all time

for sure, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is a 66-year-old retired footballer who served the West Germany national team for ten years between 1976 and 1986 during which he scored 45 goals in the 95 appearances that he made for them. That actually gets Rummenigge an international goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.47 meaning that he scored almost one goal (exactly 0.94) in every two appearances that he made for his country’s national team.

Rummenigge’s international goal-to-appearance ratio is a little bit better than that of Klinnsman but not better than that of Voller, though it doesn’t deviate much from it. Rummenigge scored only in 31 appearances out of his 95 international appearances which means he scored in every 3 of his international appearances; just compare it to Voller’s stats in this respect (scored in every 2.5 international appearances), however,

is in front of both Voller and Klinnsman in one respect and that is he managed to score 3 goals in 3 single international matches, what neither Voller nor Klinnsman could achieve during their careers.

Although Rummenigge made his first international appearance in 1976, his first international goal took around a year to come. He scored his first international goal against Italy in a friendly match in October 1977 which ended in Germany’s 2-1 win, and his last international goal was against Argentina in 1986 World Cup final which ended in Germany’s 3-2 win and their becoming champions. Rummenigge also captained the German national team in that match. And from all the 45 international goals Rummenigge scored 3 were scored from the penalty spot.

Uwe Seeler (43 Goals)

You might not be much familiar with Uwe Seeler as a top German footballer - or you might be! Anyway, he’s actually the 7th Germany top scorer of all time with the 43 goals he scored for West Germany in the 72 appearances that he made for them between 1954 and 1970. That actually means he scored almost 0.6 goal in every appearance or, said another way, 3 goals in every 5 appearances. You call him a prolific goalscorer? He might be, but if he’s not, he’s at least near to it.

Seeler actually scored in 32 appearances out of his 72 international ones which means averagely he scored in every 2.25 of his international appearances. His first international goal was scored in 1958 World Cup and in a match against Argentina which ended in Germany’s 3-1 victory, and his last goal actually in a match against England in 1970 World Cup quarter finals which ended in Germany’s 3-2 victory. Seeler actually scored the equalizing goal in 82 minutes and Germany’s winning goal was scored in extra time by the great Gerd Muller and in 108 minutes. And after Miroslav Klose, Seeler is actually the second footballer on the list of Germany top scorers of all time all whose international goals are non-penalty ones.

Michael Ballack (42 Goals)

Having scored 42 goals during his international career for the German national team, Michael Ballack has scored the most number of penalties not only among the first 10 but also among all Germany top scorers of all time: 9 penalties which is two times higher than almost all the other Germany top scorers but decreases his non-penalty goals to 33. So, if we were to sort the list of

Germany all-time top scorers

based on the non-penalty goals they have scored Ballack would fall to 11th position after Oliver Bierhoff.

Well, let’s how

did for the German national team in his footballing time. Ballack actually scored 42 goals in the 98 appearances that he made for the German national team which gets him an international goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.42 meaning that the 45-year-old German midfielder scored a little bit more than two goals (exactly 2.1) in every 5 appearances for his country’s national team.

Ballack actually took part in 2 editions of FIFA World Cup, namely the 2002 and 2006 editions, but never won the global competition title with his country’s national team. He finished as runner-up and on the third place in the 2002 and 2006 editions of the competition respectively. He also took part in 2010 World Cup qualifiers but an ankle injury prevented him from continuing in the tournament.

Ballack actually scored in 37 of all his 98 international appearances which means, on average, he scored in every 2.6 of his international appearances. Ballack’s first international appearance was in an international friendly against Scotland in April 1999 which ended in Germany’s 1-0 win. This is as his first international goal came just two years later in March 2001 in a match against

in 2002 World Cup qualification round which ended in Germany’s 4-2 win. And the 45-year-old retired German footballer actually registered his record for the most number of international goals in a single match in a match against Malta in 2004 where he scored 4 goals for his country’s national team helping them in their 7-0 win.

Thomas Muller (40 Goals)

The only footballer at least among the first 10 Germany top scorers of all time who’s not been yet retired from international football, so, his international records may change in the future which we will surely update you with, but for now, we should say that Muller has actually been serving the German national team since 2010 and during this time has scored 40 goals in his 108 appearances which gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.37 meaning that the 32-year-old German attacking midfielder has scored a little bit more than one goal (exactly 1.1) in every 3 appearances that he has made for his country’s national team.

Muller’s first international goal came in June 2010 in a 2010 FIFA World Cup match against Australia which ended in Germany’s 4-0 win, and his last international goal, indeed up until this date (October 2021), actually in October 2021 in a match against Romania in 2022 World Cup qualifiers which ended in Germany’s 2-1 win. Muller’s most international goals scored in a single match was actually in June 2014 in a 2014 World Cup group stage match against Portugal where he scored 3 goals for Germany helping them in their 4-0 win against their group rival.

Muller has actually scored in 30 of his 98 international appearances which means he has scored in every 3.2 international matches in which he has played. And from all the 40 goals Muller has scored for Germany 2 have been scored from the penalty spot which decreases his non-penalty international goals to 38.

Oliver Bierhoff (37 Goals)

`The shortest time of service to German national team among the first 10 Germany top scorers of all time belongs to Oliver Bierhoff who is also at the bottom of the list. Bierhoff served the German national team only for 6 years and between 1996 and 2002 where he managed to score 37 goals in his 70 appearances for them which gets him an international goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.52 meaning that he scored a little bit more than one goal (exactly 1.04) in every two appearances that he made for his country’s national team.

Bierhoff took part in two editions of FIFA World Cup, namely the 1998 and 2002 editions, and finished as runners-up in the latter with the German national team. Bierhoff’s first international goal came in March 1996 in an international friendly against Denmark which ended in Germany’s 2-0 win, and his last goal in a 2002 World Cup group stage match against Saudi Arabia which ended in Germany’s 8-0 win.

Bierhoff scored 3 goals in 3 single international matches during his career: In a 1998 World Cup qualifying round match against Northern Ireland in 1997 which ended  in Germany’s 3-0 win - Bierhoff actually scored all the three goals in that match, In Germany’s 6-1 win against

in Euro 2000 qualifying round in 1999, and in an international friendly against Kuwait in 2002 which ended in Germany’s 7-0 win. And from among all the 37 international goals Bierhoff scored 2 were scored from the penalty spot which decreases his non-penalty international goals to 35.

The Rest of the List of Germany Top Scorers of All Time

Here are the next 10 footballers on the list of Germany top scorers of all time indeed based on

Germany national football team statistics and records

. Please note that by ratio in the list below we mean international goal-to-appearance ratio, by Apps we mean international appearances, and by NPG we mean international non-penalty goals.

• Fritz Walter, Goals: 33, NPG: 31, Penalties: 2, Apps: 61, Ratio: 0.54

• Klaus Fischer, Goals: 32, NPG: 32, Penalties: 0, Apps: 45, Ratio: 0.71

• Mario Gomez, Goals: 31, NPG: 30, Penalties: 1, Apps: 78, Ratio: 0.39

• Ernst Lehner, Goals: 31, NPG: 29, Penalties: 2, Apps: 65, Ratio: 0.47

• Andreas Moller, Goals: 29, NPG: 29, Penalties: 0, Apps: 85, Ratio: 0.34

• Edmund Conen, Goals: 27, NPG: 26, Penalties: 1, Apps: 28, Ratio: 0.96

• Bastian Schweinsteiger, Goals: 25, NPG: 20, Penalties: 5, Apps: 121, Ratio: 0.2

• Richard Hofmann, Goals: 24, NPG: 23, Penalties: 1, Apps: 25, Ratio: 0.96

• Lothar Matthaus, Goals: 23, NPG: 17, Penalties: 6, Apps: 150, Ratio: 0.15

• Mesut Ozil, Goals: 23, NPG: 18, Penalties: 5, Apps: 92, Ratio: 0.25

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