Champions League all-time top scorers - Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi & UCL goal kings

Who is in the lead in the race to become the all-time top scorer in Europe's leading club competition? We've taken a look at the top finishers.

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The Champions Leaguehas featured some of the best goalscorers in history. As the top-tier club competition in Europe and arguably the world, it is a stage that has been graced by countless icons of football.

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Striking sensations such as Raul and Andriy Shevchenko dominated during the 1990s and 2000s, while Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi took the art of scoring to a whole new level. Pretenders such as Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe have designs on emulating their predecessors amid stern competition from veteran forward Robert Lewandowski.

GOAL takes a look at the all-time top scorers in the competition's history, dating back to the inaugural European Cup in 1955.

Who is the all-time Champions League top scorer?
As you can see from our table below, Ronaldo is the top scorer in the history of the Champions League (including the European Cup). He is closely followed by his arch-rival, Messi.

There is a significant gulf between that pair and the rest, Barcelona striker Lewandowski following in third.

Karim Benzema follows in fourth, while Raul completes the top five, with the likes of Mbappe, Thomas Muller, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Haaland among the best of the rest.

List of Champions League/European Cup all-time top goalscorers

Rank Player Goals Appearances
1 Cristiano Ronaldo 140 183
2 Lionel Messi 129 163
3 Robert Lewandowski 105 137
4 Karim Benzema 90 152
5 Raul 71 142
6 Kylian Mbappe 64 92
7 Thomas Muller 57 163
8 Ruud van Nistelrooy 56 73
9 Erling Haaland 54 53
10 Thierry Henry 50 112
11 Alfredo Di Stefano 49 58
=12 Mohamed Salah 48 93
=12 Andriy Shevchenko 48 100
=12 Zlatan Ibrahimovic 48 124
=15 Eusebio 46 65
=15 Filippo Inzaghi 46 81
17 Didier Drogba 44 92
18 Harry Kane 45 62
=19 Neymar 43 81
=19 Antoine Griezmann 43 110
21 Alessandro Del Piero 42 89
22 Sergio Aguero 41 79
23 Ferenc Puskas 36 41
24 Edinson Cavani 35 70
25 Gerd Muller 34 35

*Correct as of games played on December 3, 2025
**The list takes into consideration data from 1955-present
***Players in bold are still active in the competition

The composition of the all-time goalscorers list is mostly made up of players who are playing or played in the modern Champions League era (i.e. 1992 onwards) which has added more continental games to the modern day calendar. Specifically, of the 25 players in the list above, 21 of them played from the mid 1990s on.

Alfredo Di Stefano Real MadridGetty Images
However, despite that, two players who played in the pre-Champions League era (when the tournament was known as the European Cup) still figure prominently, with former Real Madrid star Alfredo Di Stefano and Benfica icon Eusebio featuring in and around the top 15.

Ferenc Puskas, who shone for Real Madrid in the 1950s and 1960s, is also in the top 25. Former Bayern Munich striker Gerd Muller was in the top 20 before being edged out by Salah. Despite being nudged out, no player came remotely close to Gerd Muller's phenomenal goals-per-game ratio of 0.95, until the emergence of Haaland in 2019.

Puskas boasted a goal-to-game ratio of 0.85 and Di Stefano's was 0.84, while Messi's is 0.79. That was undoubtedly the best in the modern era until Haaland showed up, scoring more than a goal a game (1.02).