Euro Cup Top Scorers of All Time

Well, if you like to know EURO top scorers of all time, here is the place. We are going to let you know about 17 top footballers from different European nations who have scored the most number of goals in Euro.

The players with less than 5 goals have been ruled out and actually several players have scored the same number of goals; we mean you shouldn’t expect a list with different numbers as goals, however, the goal-to-appearance ratios are different and we are going to let you know about them too.

The List of UEFA European Championship Top Goalscorers Ever

Who are actually

UEFA European Championship top goalscorers ever

? The number as we already said is 17 - actually with or with more than 5 goals. Stay with us to know who they are.

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal - 14 Goals)

Number one on the list of European Championship top scorers of all time,

 has actually scored 14 goals in 25 matches of five editions of Euro (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020) which gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.58 meaning that the top Portuguese footballer has scored almost 3 goals (exactly 2.9) in every 5 Euro matches he has taken in part in.

Ronaldo is the only footballer to have scored in three Euro finals and also the only footballer to have scored in 11 consecutive matches in the same competition; what actually no other footballer on the list of EURO top scorers of all time has ever achieved.

Michel Platini (France - 9 Goals)

Although the great legendary French footballer, Michel Platini, comes next on the list of European Championship top scorers of all time after the top Portuguese footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo, he has the best goal-to-appearance ratio on the list: 1.80 which comes from the 9 goals he scored in 5 matches in just one edition of Euro; actually the 1980 edition of the competition.

No other footballer on the list has such a top goal-to-appearance ratio, though there are some footballers on the list who are still in the business and can improve their ratios in the coming years. If Platini had just scored one more goal, he would have scored exactly two goals in every Euro match he had competed in.

Anyway, Platini’s current goal-to-appearance ratio is also not surpassed by any other footballer on the list. And just to let you know more about Platini’s Euro goals, we should say that the legendary French footballer scored most of the goals France scored in Euro 1984; actually 9 out of 14 goals and he was also named the same competition top scorer.

Alan Shearer (England - 7 Goals)

Another legendary footballer on the list of

Euro cup top scorers of all time

, Alan Shearer took part in three editions of UEFA European Championship, namely the 1992, 1996 and 2000 editions of the competition, and he scored 7 goals in all the 9 appearances that he made in these editions of Euro. That actually gets him a better Euro goal-to-appearance ratio than Ronaldo: 0.78 which means he scored 1.5 goals in every two Euro appearances he made.

Euro 96 was actually that edition of Euro that Shearer had the greatest impact on among the three editions of the competition he took part in. He was named Euro 96 top scorer with 5 goals; He won Euro 96 Golden Boot, and he was also named on Euro 96 Team of the Tournament.

Antoine Griezmann (France - 6 Goals)

Another French footballer on the list of Euro cup top scorers of all time,

has a better Euro goal-to-appearance ratio than the two previously mentioned footballers - we mean Cristiano Ronaldo and Alan Shearer. He scored 6 goals in the 7 appearances that he made in Euro 2016 which actually gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.86. Just one more goal and he would get a ratio of 1.

Griezmann actually advanced to Euro 2016 finals with the French national team, but finished as runner-up, however, the fact that he was there until the competition finals had its impact: He was named Euro 2016 top scorer; he was also named Euro 2016 Player of the Tournament, was named on Euro 2016 Team of the Tournament, and won Euro 2016 Golden Boot award.

Ruud van Nistelrooy (Netherlands - 6 Goals)

The first Dutch footballer on the list of Euro cup top scorers of all time, Ruud van Nistelrooy is a 44-year-old retired footballer who took part in two editions of UEFA Euro during his playtime: 2004 and 2008 editions of the European competition where he scored 6 goals in 8 appearances getting a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.75 which means he scored 1.5 goals in every two Euro appearances he made.

Although van Nistelrooy has a good Euro goal-to-appearance ratio, he never became the top scorer of either UEFA European Championships he took part in. The only achievement Van Nistelrooy got was being named on UEFA Euro Team of the Tournament in Euro 2004.

Patrick Kluivert (Netherlands - 6 Goals)

Another top Dutch footballer on the list of Euro cup top scorers of all time, Patrick Kluivert is a 44-year-old retired footballer who, just like his fellow man, Ruud van Nistelrooy, took part in two Euro competitions, namely the 1996 and 2000 editions of the competition. His Euro goalscoring stats is a little bit worse than Van Nistelrooy; he actually scored his 6 Euro goals in 9 appearances which gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.68  - vs Van Nistelrooy’s ratio of 0.75.

However, unlike Van Nistelrooy, Kluivert became the top scorer of one of the Euro competitions he took part in - actually the 2000 edition - with 5 goals jointly with the Serbian footballer, Savo Milosevic. He also won Euro 2000 Golden Boot, and was named on the same competition Team of the Tournament too.

Wayne Rooney (England - 6 Goals)

And here comes the second and last English footballer on the list of Euro cup top scorers of all time: Wayne Rooney. He’s 35 years old by now and has just retired from professional football; 2020-21 was actually his last season. Rooney has a little bit worse Euro goal-to-appearance ratio than the two other Dutch footballers already mentioned. He actually took part in three editions of Euro, namely Euro 2004, 2012 and 2016, and scored 6 goals in 10 appearances which gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.6.

As you might have guessed from Rooney’s Euro goal-to-appearance ratio, he never became the top scorer of any of Euro competitions he took part in. He also never won a Euro Golden Boot, but was named once in 2004 on the same competition Team of the Tournament.

Thierry Henry (France - 6 Goals)

One of the top footballers ever in the history of French football, Thierry Henry is a 43-year-old retired footballer who took part in 3 editions of UEFA Euro, namely Euro 2000, 2004, and 2008. He actually scored 6 goals in the 11 Euro appearances that he made, so, his Euro goal-to-appearance ratio is even lower than all the other footballers on the list of

EURO top scorers of all time

: 0.55 which means he scored a little bit more than 1 goal (exactly 1.1) in every two Euro appearances that he made.

Henry actually won the 2000 edition of the UEFA European Championship with the

. He was also named on the UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament in the same year. Despite a host of individual honors and trophies that Henry has to his name, he has never won an individual UEFA Euro trophy.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden - 6 Goals)

The only Swedish footballer on the list of Euro cup top scorers of all time,

is a 39-year-old striker that despite his old age is still in the business. In fact, he retired from international football in 2016 but still is playing for the Italian club, AC Milan. Ibrahimovic took part in 4 editions of UEFA Euro, namely 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016 editions of the competition, in the first three he also scored.

Ibrahimovic’s Euro goal-to-appearance ratio is lower than all the other footballers already mentioned in this post: 0.46 which comes from the 6 goals he scored in his 13 Euro appearances and means that he scored almost one goal (exactly 0.92) in every two Euro appearances.

Ibrahimovic has a number of individual honors and records to his name from among which 6 are UEFA Euro honors. They are Euro 2004 Man of the Match (Sweden vs Italy), Euro 2008 Man of the Match (Sweden vs Greece), Euro 2012 Man of the Match (Sweden vs France), Euro 2004 and Euro 2012 Goals of the Tournament - vs the teams mentioned above - and being called on Euro 2012 Team of the Tournament.

Nuno Gomes (Portugal - 6 Goals)

He’s the second and last Portuguese footballer and also the last footballer on the list of Euro cup top scorers of all time with 6 goals. With one more Euro game than Zlatan Ibrahimovic - actually 14 - and the same number of goals, Nuno Gomes gets an Euro goal-to-appearance ratio even lower than Ibrahimovic, though only by a very narrow margin: 0.43.

Although Gomes never won a UEFA European Championship with the

, he was part of the same team who finished runners-up in Euro 2000 and on the third place in Euro 2004. He was also named on the Euro 2000 Team of the Tournament. And despite the fact that he also participated in Euro 2008, neither he nor the Portuguese national team didn’t win a trophy in the competition.

Savo Milosevic (Yugoslavia - 5 Goals)

The first and only Yugoslavian footballer on the list of

European Championship top scorers of all time

, Savo Milosevic is a retired 47-year-old striker who also has the second highest Euro goal-to-appearance ratio on the list. He actually appeared only in one Euro edition (2000) and scored 5 goals in the 4 Euro matches he played in. That actually gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 1.25; the second highest ratio on the list after the great Michel Platini.

As mentioned above Milosevic only appeared in one Euro edition, however, although he didn’t actually win the Euro Championship with the Yugoslavian national team, he managed to win the competition Golden Boot and also was named on the competition Team of the Tournament.

Marco van Basten (Netherlands - 5 Goals)

The third and the last Dutch footballer on the list of UEFA European Championship top goalscorers ever, Marco van Basten is a top and even legendary retired footballer who appeared in two editions of UEFA Euro: the 1988 and 1992 editions of the competition where he only scored in the former; actually 5 goals in 9 appearances which gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.56.

A 0.56 goal-to-appearance ratio actually means that Van Basten scored a little bit more than one goal (exactly 1.12) in every two Euro appearances he made, and all these goals, as mentioned above, were scored in one edition of Euro (1988). Van Basten won the same Euro Championship with the

and was also named the top scorer and the best player of the tournament not to mention that he was also named on the same tournament Team of the Tournament. And in the 1992 edition of Euro, although he didn’t score, he was again named on the Team of the Tournament.

Milan Baros (Czech Republic - 5 Goals)

The only Czech footballer on the list of

Euro cup top scorers of all time

, Milan Baros is a 39-year-old retired footballer who took part in three editions of Euro, namely 2004, 2008, and 2012 editions of the competition, during his playtime where he scored only in one of them; actually Euro 2004 where he managed to score 5 goals in the 11 appearances that he made in the competition.

5 Goals in 11 Euro appearances; that actually gets Baros a Euro goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.45 meaning that the Czech retired footballer scored near one goal (exactly 0.9) in every two Euro appearances. Baros never won a UEFA Euro Championship with the

, but he managed to win Euro 2004 Golden Boot and also was named on the same competition Team of the Tournament.

Jurgen Klinsmann (Germany - 5 Goals)

Appeared in 3 editions of UEFA Euro, namely 1988, 1992, and 1996 editions of the competition, and scored in all of them, Jurgen Klinsmann, however, does not have a very good Euro goal-to-appearance ratio, because he actually scored his 5 Euro goals in 13 appearances which actually gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.38 meaning that the top former German footballer scored a little bit more than one goal (exactly 1.14) in every 3 Euro appearances.

Although Klinsmann won one Euro Championship in 1996 and finished runner-up in Euro 1992 with the

, he never won an individual Euro trophy be it Euro Golden Boot or top scorer or even being named on the competition Team of the Tournament.

Fernando Torres (Spain - 5 Goals)

The only Spanish footballer on the list of Euro cup top scorers of all time, Fernando Torres is a 37-year-old recently retired footballer who, just like Klinsmann, took part in 3 editions of UEFA Euro: 2004, 2008, and 2012 editions of the competition where he managed to score in the two latter editions - we mean Euro 2004 and 2008.

And just like Klinsmann, Torres also scored 5 goals in 13 Euro appearances getting the same 0.38 goal-to-appearance ratio, however, Torres has better Euro stats than Klinsmann: He won two UEFA Euro Championships with the Spanish national team, was named Man of the Match in Euro 2008 final and also on the same competition Team of the Tournament. He also won Euro 2012 Golden Boot.

Mario Gomez (Germany - 5 Goals)

Another German footballer on the list of Euro cup top scorers of all time, Mario Gomez is a 35-year-old recently-retired footballer who, just like Fernando Torres and Jurgen Klinsmann, took part in three editions of UEFA Euro: Euro 2008, 2012, and 2016. And just like the two just-mentioned footballers, he also scored 5  goals in 13 Euro appearances getting a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.38.

Gomez was actually part of the German national team who finished runners-up in UEFA Euro 2008. He was also named Euro 2012 top scorer, but no other club or individual Euro trophy to his name.

Zinedine Zidane (France - 5 Goals)

The last but not least on the list of

Euro cup top scorers of all time

, Zinedine Zidane appeared actually in 3 editions of UEFA Euro, namely 1996, 2000, and 2004 editions of the competition, and scored in the two latter of them. He actually scored 5 goals in 14 Euro appearances which gets him the lowest Euro goal-to-appearance ratio on the list , though not at all by a wide margin: 0.36.

Euro 2000 was the competition Zidane had the greatest impact on among the three editions of Euro the legendary French footballer took part in. He not only won Euro 2000 Championship with the French national team but also was named the same competition Player of the Tournament and on the same competition Team of the Tournament. It should also be noted that Zidane was named on Euro 2004 Team of the Tournament too, and on Euro all-time Xi in 2016.

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