Uruguay Top Scorers of All Time

Whatever you call it, Uruguay or Uruguay national football team, there are ten top scorers who have scored the most number of goals for the team. These goals actually vary from 22 to 67 and are not limited to 67 since Uruguay top scorer of all time, Luis Suarez, is still an active player.

You might ask if there are any Uruguay football player legends among Uruguay top scorers of all time. The answer could be both yes and no. In fact, if you consider

Uruguay top scorers

like Diego Forlan and Carlos Aguilera as Uruguay football player legends, then the answer is yes, otherwise it’s a no.

A List of Uruguay Top Scorers of All Time

As we already mentioned, we are going to introduce to you Uruguay top scorers of all time, of course, based on Uruguay scoring stats. Let’s see who Uruguay national football team top scorers of all time are.

Luis Suarez (67 Goals)

Number one on the list of

Uruguay top scorers of all time

, Luis Suarez is a 35-year-old forward who, despite his old age as an outfield player, is still active having been playing for the Spanish club, Atletico Madrid, since 2020. The fact that he’s still active means he could probably add to his international goals, of course, if he takes part in any international competition. Suarez has been serving the Uruguayan national team since 2007 and during this time has scored 67 goals in his 130 appearances for them which means he has scored around one goal (exactly 1.04) in every two appearances for them averagely.

With that number of appearances (130) for the

, Luis Suarez is also the third most capped Uruguayan footballer of all time and if he just adds two more appearances to his international ones, then he will be the second most capped Uruguayan footballer of all time since he’s only one appearance behind the current second most capped Uruguayan footballer of all time, Fernando Muslera. Suarez is one of the highly-decorated footballers on the list with most of his awards being individual, however, he also won 13 club trophies with Barcelona and a Copa America with the Uruguayan national team in 2011. Some sources say Suarez has actually scored 66 goals till now; doesn’t make much difference since he will be on top of the list of Uruguay top scorers of all time with that number of goals, too.

If you would like to know how many goals Suarez has scored in different international competitions, here’s the stats: 7 goals in World Cup finals, 28 in World Cup qualification rounds, 22 in friendlies, 3 in Confederations Cup, and 6 in Copa America. He has also received 17 yellow cards and 2 red cards in his international appearances to this date.

Edinson Cavani (54 Goals)

Although not a better scorer than Luis Suarez, Edinson Cavani has made his mark by becoming the top scorer of several European competitions. He actually became Ligue 1 top scorer in 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons by scoring 35 and 28 goals, respectively, Italian Cup top scorer in 2011-12 season with 5 goals, Serie A top scorer in 2012-13 season with 29 goals, French League Cup top scorer in three seasons, and French Cup top scorer in 2014-15 season with 4 goals. He also scored Premier League Goal of the Month in May 2021 with

and became CONMEBOL FIFA World Cup qualification top scorer with 10 goals. See? This man has a knack for becoming the top scorer!

Just like Suarez, Cavani is a 35-year-old forward who is still in the business, and that means he can add to his international goals, but if he can take over Suarez on the list of Uruguay top scorers of all time, we are doubtful of since he’s behind Suarez by 13 goals and the probability that he scores that many international goals in a year or two remained from his career is very low. The interesting fact here is that on the list of most capped Uruguayan footballers of all time, Cavani comes next to Suarez with 128 appearances becoming the fourth most capped Uruguayan footballer ever. So, as you see he scored all his 54 goals in 128 appearances which gets him a lower goal-to-appearance ratio than Suarez; actually 0.42 which means he scored 0.84 goals in every two appearances or 2.1 goals in every 5.

Cavani has scored most of his international goals in friendly matches which actually counts for 24 (41%) of all his international goals. The rest of his international goals have been scored in World Cup finals (5),  World Cup qualifiers (18), Confederations Cup (3), and Copa America (4).

Diego Forlan (36 Goals)

Some believe Forlan is one of

Uruguay football player legends

. We doubt but there is no doubt that he’s one of the best footballers Uruguay has ever produced. That, of course, doesn’t compensate for his lack of international goals when you compare it to the number of international goals Cavani or Suarez scored - he’s actually around 20 to 30 goals behind. Forlan has also the lowest goal-to-appearance ratio on the list of Uruguay top scorers of all time: 0.32 which comes from the 36 goals he scored in 112 international appearances between 2002 and 2014 and means that on average he barely scored one goal in every three of his international appearances.

However, it might be interesting for you to know that with that number of goals (36), Forlan was actually Uruguay top scorer of all time between 2011 and 2013 before his record was broken by Luis Suarez. He’s also the first Uruguayan footballer to have reached the milestone of 100 caps, though  he’s currently the seventh most capped Uruguayan footballer of all time with his 112 international appearances.

Maybe the international competition in which

bloomed was 2010 FIFA World Cup. He not only became the competition’s top scorer jointly with three other footballers with 5 goals but also won the competition’s Golden Ball and Golden Boot, scored the  Goal of the Tournament, and was named on the competition’s Dream Team. He was also part of the Uruguayan national team who won the 2010 edition of Copa America. Forlan scored most of his international goals in World Cup qualifiers which counts for 15 (42%) of all his international goals. The rest of his international goals were actually scored in World Cup finals (6), Friendlies (7), Confederations Cup (1), and Copa America (6). That actually sums up to 35; that is because according to some sources Forlan scored 35 international goals, yet most believe it was 36, however, we don’t know that where and when that one goal was scored.

Hector Scarone (31 Goals)

The first passed and one of the old-timer footballers on the list of Uruguay top scorers of all time, Hector Scarone served the Uruguayan national team between 1917 and 1930 scoring 31 goals in all his 51 appearances for them which actually gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.61 meaning that he scored 1.2 goals in every 2 or 3 goals in every 5 appearances for his country’s national team averagely. Up to this point, that’s even better than all the other footballers mentioned on the list, and to tell you the truth, he also won more trophies with the Uruguayan national team that includes four Copa America trophies in 1917, 1923, 1924, and 1926 and two Olympic Gold Cups in 1924 and 1928. It might be interesting for you to know that from 1930 up until 2011 - actually for 81 years - Scarone was Uruguay top scorer of all time with his 31 goals - 21 of which had been scored in unofficial matches - before his record was broken by Diego Forlan in 2011.

Angel Romano (28 Goals)

Another passed old-timer footballer on the list of Uruguay top scorers of all time, Angel Romano is also one of the highly-decorated footballers on the list though most of the trophies he won are no more today. He actually won 22 club trophies with the Uruguayan club, Nacional, and 21 international trophies with

Uruguay national football team

including six Copa America trophies and one Summer Olympics gold medal in 1924. Romano’s international career actually lasted from 1911 to 1927 during which he scored 28 goals in 70 appearances for his country’s national team which actually translates to two goals in every five appearances averagely. He died in August 1972 at the age of 79.

Oscar Miguez (27 Goals)

Also among the passed old-timer footballers on the list of

Uruguay top scorers of all time

, Oscar Miguez served the Uruguayan national team sometime between 1950 and 1958 making 37 appearances and scoring 29 goals for them in the process. This actually gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of almost 0.7 which is the second highest on the list and means that he scored 3.5 goals in every 5 appearances for his country’s national team averagely. Miguez took part in two editions of FIFA World Cup, namely the 1950 and 1954 editions, where in the former he managed to score a hat-trick against Bolivia in a 8-0 win and contributed to his team’s victory over Brazil - something quite unconventional especially in those times - though he was not one of the scorers in that match. With the eight goals he scored in the two above-mentioned editions of World Cup, Miguez is actually Uruguay’s all-time World Cup top scorer. The top Uruguayan forward died in August 2006 at the age of 78.

Sebastian Abreu (26 Goals)

You may get surprised if you know this footballer served more than 30 clubs - actually 32 - in 11 different countries during his career which is a record in its own regard. Except for the Argentinian club,

, and the Spanish club, Deportivo La Coruna, whom he served for two and six years, respectively, at the start of his career, Abreu never served a club more than a year or two during his career. You may get also surprised if you know that just in three years between 2016 and 2019 he changed between eight clubs, but enough of his club career; let’s see what he did at international level.

Abreu actually served the Uruguayan national team sometime between 1996 and 2012 taking part in two editions of FIFA World Cup, namely the 2002 and 2010 editions, and three editions of Copa America, actually the 1997, 2007, and 2011 editions, where in the 2011 edition he managed to score two goals for his country’s national team and also won the competition with them. Maybe the most memorable moment of Abreu’s appearances in FIFA World Cup was in the 2010 edition of the competition and in a match against Ghana in quarter-finals where he scored a decisive penalty in the penalty shootout that sent his team to the competition’s semi-finals after 40 years that they had not advanced to that stage in a World Cup edition.

The 45-year-old retired Uruguayan forward actually scored 26 goals in his 70 international appearances which means he scored 1.1 goals in every three appearances averagely. And with that number of international goals (26), he was actually only five goals behind Uruguay’s all-time top scorer before 2011, Hector Scarone, who had scored 31 international goals.

Pedro Petrone (24 Goals)

And here comes another passed old-timer footballer on the list of Uruguay top scorers of all time: Pedro Petrone. He’s actually special in two respects: First, he has the highest international goal-to-appearance ratio on this list which is 0.86 coming from the 24 goals he scored in his 28 international appearances and only four goals short of getting him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 1, and second, he’s the most prolific goalscorer on the list the proof to which is not only his international goal-to-appearance ratio but also the 213 goals he scored in his 192 club appearances only at league level which gets him a club goal-to-appearance ratio of 1.1.

Petrone served the Serie A club,

, sometime between 1931 and 1933 which was by itself an achievement for a South American footballer in those times let alone that he also became the Italian professional league top scorer in 1931-32 season with 25 goals. And that’s not all; he also became 1924 Olympics football tournament top scorer with 7 goals, South American Championship top scorer in 1923, 1924, and 1927, and won the 1930 FIFA World Cup with the Uruguayan national team, although he didn’t score a single goal for them in that competition.

Fernando Morena (22 Goals)

With 22 goals and on the ninth position on the list of Uruguay top scorers of all time - based on

Uruguay scoring stats

, Fernando Morena actually occupies the 9th position on the list because he has a better international goal-to-appearance ratio than the 10th position on the list, Carlos Aguilera, who scored the same number of international goals during his career. Well, Morena actually scored 22 goals in 53 international appearances which gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.42 meaning that he scored 2.1 goals in every 5 international appearances averagely. Maybe the Uruguayan forward, who is now 70 years old, did not look like a top scorer at international level, but at club level, or more precisely said, at Uruguayan professional league level, he was number one.

He’s actually the record holder for most goals scored within the

- Uruguay’s top-tier league - in the history of the competition with the 230 goals he scored in 244 matches in the aforementioned league. As you see, he is only 14 goals short of getting a goal-to-appearance ratio of 1 within the Uruguayan league. It might be interesting for you to know that other than winning the same league title six times during his career, Morena also became its top scorer for seven seasons six of which were consecutive; actually the ones between 1973 and 1978. He also became Copa Libertadores top scorer in 1974, 1975, and 1982, and won Copa America with the Uruguayan national team in 1983.

Carlos Aguilera (22 Goals)

The last but not least on the list of

Uruguay top scorers of all time

, Carlos Aguilera is a 57-year-old retired forward who served the Uruguayan national team sometime between 1982 and 1997 scoring 22 goals in his 64 appearances for them. That actually gets him a goal-to-appearance ratio of 0.34 meaning that he scored 1.02 goals in every three appearances for his country’s national team averagely. That ratio, as you see, is lower than that of Fernando Morena, and that’s why Aguilera comes 10th on the list, however, he’s not much behind Morena concerning his club and international achievements: Just like Morena, he was also part of the Uruguayan national team who won the 1983 edition of Copa America and at club level, with the Uruguayan club, Penarol, he actually won five Uruguayan Primera Division titles four of which were consecutive; actually the ones between 1993 and 1997.

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