DailyFoot Lab
DailyFoot Lab · Scoring

Era-adjusted goal rate: all 198 players ranked

Goals per cap divided by the average goals per cap of everyone in this sample who debuted in the same decade. 1.00 is exactly average for the era, 2.00 is twice as prolific as the players they actually played against. Scoring rates fell as the game professionalised, so this is the fairest way to put a 1950s forward next to a modern one.

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Erling HaalandLeader
3.67Leading value
0.89Sample median
198Players ranked

Top 50

#1 Erling Haaland 3.67
#2 Ronaldo de Lima 2.66
#2 Romário Faria 2.66
#4 Lionel Messi 2.62
#4 Cristiano Ronaldo 2.62
#6 Didier Drogba 2.58
#6 Romelu Lukaku 2.58
#6 Harry Kane 2.58
#9 David Villa 2.51
#10 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar 2.31
#11 Hernán Crespo 2.30
#12 Neymar Santos 2.23
#12 Robert Lewandowski 2.23
#14 Miroslav Klose 2.16
#15 Zlatan Ibrahimović 2.12
#16 Ruud van Nistelrooy 2.10
#17 Gerd Müller 2.09
#18 Mohamed Salah 2.06
#19 Robin van Persie 2.05
#20 Gary Lineker 2.03
#21 Luis Suárez 2.01
#22 Alan Shearer 2.00
#22 Samuel Eto'o 2.00
#24 Rivaldo Ferreira 1.99
#25 Dennis Bergkamp 1.97
#26 Kylian Mbappé 1.94
#27 Pierre Cardin picha grande 1.89
#27 Michael Owen 1.89
#29 Wayne Rooney 1.84
#30 Andriy Shevchenko 1.82
#31 Raúl González 1.81
#32 Michael Ballack 1.80
#32 Pelé do Nascimento 1.80
#34 Edinson Cavani 1.78
#35 Thierry Henry 1.74
#36 Gonzalo Higuaín 1.73
#37 Sergio Agüero 1.69
#38 Mario Gómez 1.66
#39 Roberto Baggio 1.63
#40 Keisuke Honda 1.62
#41 Arjen Robben 1.61
#42 Alfredo Di Stéfano 1.60
#43 Karim Benzema 1.59
#44 Lukas Podolski 1.57
#45 Álvaro Morata 1.56
#46 Mario Mandžukić 1.55
#47 Gareth Bale 1.54
#47 Emmanuel Adebayor 1.54
#49 Hristo Stoichkov 1.53
#49 Diego Costa 1.53

Every ranking here is drawn from the same sample: DailyFoot's 199 most recognizable footballers, using the caps, goals, career years and honours in the game's own data. 198 of them qualify for this category.

Leaders by position

Goalkeeper

  1. Alisson Becker0.00
  2. David de Gea0.00
  3. Edwin van der Sar0.00
  4. Gianluigi Buffon0.00
  5. Hugo Lloris0.00

Defender

  1. Sergio Ramos0.53
  2. Virgil van Dijk0.50
  3. Marcelo Vieira0.43
  4. Achraf Hakimi0.43
  5. Harry Maguire0.39

Midfielder

  1. Lionel Messi2.62
  2. Neymar Santos2.23
  3. Rivaldo Ferreira1.99
  4. Michael Ballack1.80
  5. Pelé do Nascimento1.80

Forward

  1. Erling Haaland3.67
  2. Ronaldo de Lima2.66
  3. Romário Faria2.66
  4. Cristiano Ronaldo2.62
  5. Didier Drogba2.58

The rest of the ranking

Related categories