SP. The 15 players with most international goals+assists since 2000 – Ronaldo v Messi is so close

Footballers from every corner of the globe yearn for the chance to play for their national team – it’s considered the pinnacle of someone’s career, even if recent years has seen somewhat of a shift. And many of those with the privilege of showing off on the international stage often bring their domestic goal return with them.

Getting on the score sheet for your country must bring immense pride, but for some, it’s purely second nature. And the forthcoming list attests to exactly that. While some are more intrigued by breaking goalscoring records, some take great pleasure in delivering countless inch-perfect balls to their marauding forward line.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are quite obviously the duo head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd thanks to their innate abilities of shooting on sight and often leaving the goalkeeper hapless, while there are names on the list that you may have forgotten about. Those who, in their time, were scoring left, right and centre for their nation but have now hung up their boots having embedded their name in their respective country’s history.

Using Transfermarkt to help us, we’ve compiled a list of the 15 players with the most international contributions (goals and assists) since the turn of the millennium. Strap yourselves as we delve deeper. Let’s get stuck in.

10 Alexis Sanchez (Chile)

Goal contributions: 92

While much can be discussed about Alexis Sanchez’s performances at club level – particularly with the downfall he endured after ditching Arsenal for Manchester United – there’s always been little doubt over his capabilities. Sanchez often shines on the international stage where, in fairness, all of Chile’s ideas revolve around the minute forward.

Having scored 51 goals and provided 41 assists in 166 caps, he leads his country in all three categories. He guided Chile to their first major tournament win, clinching the 2015 Copa America and scoring the decisive penalty in the final. As captain, he led the team to defend their title in the 2016 Copa America Centenario, earning the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player.

9 Edin Dzeko (Bosnia & Herzegovina)

Goal contributions: 96

Playing in Europe, for a country that ranks as lowly as 74th-placed Bosnia & Herzegovina, it would be understable if Edin Dzeko’s club statistics struggled to translate on the international stage. But such is the striker he is, this is far from the case. Sure, he might not get the same service as when he played for the likes of Manchester City and Roma, but this hasn’t stopped his prolific nature from shining through.

Winner of the Bosnian Player of the Year award three years on the tro between 2009 and 2011, the 6ft4in talisman is just as important to his nation as Sanchez is, having netted 67 goals in 139 appearances for the Balkan country. This, again, puts him at the top of the charts on both fronts, although success in tangible team accolades has proven elusive.

8 Miroslav Klose (Germany)

Goal contributions: 100

Miroslav Klose was a player that defined what it meant to be in the right place at the right time. He is the all-time top goalscorer for Germany, and having scored 14 goals across four World Cups, he also holds the record for most goals in football’s most prestigious competition.

These incredible feats are largely down to the Poland-born striker’s natural instinct, aerial prowess, and poise in and around the six-yard box. With him leading the line, Die Mannschaft always knew they had a shot at glory, as evidenced by the 2014 World Cup victory, which came after near misses in 2002, 2006, and 2010.

7 Romelu Lukaku (Belgium)

Goal contributions: 103

At various flashpoints during his career, Romelu Lukaku has shown glimmers of being one of the best strikers of his generation. At club level, consistency has always evaded him. But, for whatever reason, he turns into a whole other animal when it comes to getting on the score sheet for his country.

During Belgium’s Golden Generation, Lukaku was the focal point. When he’s at the peak of his powers, defenders would be better off trying to stop a freight train. In just 120 international caps, the former Chelsea, West Brom, and Everton marksman has scored 85 goals and set up his teammates on another 18 occasions. Incredibly, this amounts to a goal contribution every 104 minutes – but taking into account this is on the basis that he plays all 90 minutes each time, that ratio could be a whole lot more impressive than first thought.

6 Luis Suarez (Uruguay)

Goal contributions: 108

Often considered the best player in the world over the last decade whose name isn’t Ronaldo or Messi, there aren’t too many players out there, either, who are as passionate and as selfless for their country as Luis Suarez. Of course, that’s something of a nod towards his infamous handball against Ghana in the 2010 World Cup, but his numbers also speak for themselves.

An all-around frontman, who got in on the act with everything to ensure his team always had the best possible chance of winning, the former Liverpool and Barcelona striker notched 69 goals and 39 appearances over his 143-cap Uruguay career. Sadly, though, he hung up his boots for the national team in September 2024, with his defining moment coming in the 2011 Copa America. There, he played a key role in six goals and was named Player of the Tournament as La Celeste claimed victory.

5 Landon Donovan (USA)

Goal contributions: 116

Without any question the biggest surprise on this list, Landon Donovan is a hero in his homeland of the USA. He has scored the most goals for the national team (tied with Clint Dempsey), holds the record for the most assists, and is also USMNT’s record goalscorer at World Cup tournaments.

There’s no denying Donovan is also his country’s most important player. For almost a decade, between 2002 and 2012, he was the driving force for MLS stability. With the domestic league planning to fold ahead of the 2002 World Cup, USMNT’s heroic – and largely unexpected – run to the quarter-finals called for reassessment, with Donovan winning the tournament’s Young Player award. With 57 goals and 59 assists in 157 caps, too, he finds himself among the pantheon of international giants as a result.

4 Robert Lewandowski (Poland)

Goal contributions: 118

While Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland exist, it’ll prove difficult for other strikers to reach their gold standard. Regardless of this, right now, there’s no striker in the world better than Robert Lewandowski. The Poland captain was so unlucky not to grab himself a Ballon d’Or in 2019, before the COVID pandemic robbed him of the opportunity again in 2020.

Those baffling disappointments haven’t slowed the 36-year-old down, though, as he looks better than he ever has in 2024, and so his record for Poland is only ameliorating. 83 goals and 35 assists in 155 international appearances and counting, the Barcelona star still seems a long way away from calling it quits, and so it’s virtually impossible to predict how his tally will end up looking once all is said and done.

3 Neymar (Brazil)

Goal contributions: 138

So much critcism has been aimed at Neymar for failing to live up to the high billing placed upon him from the footballing world when he made the blockbuster move from Santos to Barcelona in 2013. So much so that, it’s contendable whether people have become blinded by the truth. Certainly, he never turned out like Messi or Pele, or whoever else people yearned to compare him too, but he still had a glittering career.

Boasting 79 goals 59 assists in 128 Brazil caps is an obscene record, one that only two players over the last 24 or so years can compete with. But with the media constantly bringing the 32-year-old down, football lovers all around the globe no longer value the former Barcelona and PSG winger as much as they should.

2 Lionel Messi (Argentina)

Goal contributions: 170

Having recently secured his long-awaited World Cup victory, Lionel Messi has firmly cemented his place in the annals of international football history. Yet, his legacy was already solidified long before that iconic triumph. With 170 goals and assists to his name, Messi has consistently been the driving force behind Argentina’s success.

As he eyes the next competitive tournament, there’s little doubt that he will remain the heartbeat of his nation’s attack, eager to continue leading them to glory with the same brilliance that has defined an international career that has also resulted in two Copa America triumphs in a row.

1 Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

Goal contributions: 172

He may not have a World Cup trophy in his cabinet, but what Cristiano Ronaldo does have over his Argentine adversary is an ever-so slightly better goal involvement record. The world-famous forward was a key figure in Portugal’s Euro 2016 triumph, whether that was on the pitch making things happen or on the side lines instructing his teammates, and his record is, aain remarkable.

As Portugal’s highest-ever goalscorer and the top goalscorer in European Championship history, Ronaldo also holds the record for most goals in international football, having found the bag of the net an incredible 135 times in 217 international caps. The only thing stopping him from being further than two contribtions ahead of Messi is his insatiable desire to score himself, as his 37 assists could quite easily be added to if the five-time Ballon d’Or winner looked up to see where his teammates were every once and a while.