12 Top Scorers in EUROs History (Ranked)

Since the European Championships began in 1960, there have been 16 tournament editions.

1. Remarkably, only one player in the history of the Euros has scored more than nine goals.
2. Germany holds the distinction of being the highest-scoring nation in the competition’s history.
3. Despite this prolificacy, they do not have a single player who has scored more than five goals in the tournament.

The European Championship may not carry the same global prestige as the World Cup, football’s most coveted prize. However, the high competition among its participants, especially before the tournament expanded to the current 24-team format, makes the Euros exceptionally tough.

For the first two decades, the Euros featured only four teams in the finals. This limited setup, combined with the four-year interval between tournaments, meant that very few players had the opportunity to accumulate significant goal totals. In fact, since the tournament’s inception in 1960, only one player has reached double digits in total goals scored.

Given the tight competition and low-scoring nature of the tournament, a single prolific summer is rarely enough to place a player among the all-time top scorers. Here are the players who have managed to score the most goals in Euros history, achieving their status through consistent performance across multiple tournaments.

12. Zlatan Ibrahimovic – 6

Sweden

When 39-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimovic was recalled to the Swedish national team ahead of Euro 2020, he described it as “the return of the God”. The towering striker wasn’t always an endless pit of pithy one-liners. When Ibrahimovic bagged his second goal of Euro 2004 to snatch a dramatic draw against Italy, he shrugged: “It could have been anyone.”

This rare act of humility was misplaced. Precious few players on the planet, let alone in the Sweden squad, could have pulled off the flying back-heel which Ibrahimovic arced into the far corner. The former AC Milan and Manchester United forward became increasingly frustrated with his international colleagues as Sweden failed to make it beyond the group stage of three consecutive European Championships between 2008 and 2016.

11. Thierry Henry – 6

France

Heading into his first European Championships at the turn of the century, Thierry Henry had only scored two goals for France since winning the 1998 World Cup. Left on the bench for the final against Brazil, the Premier League icon was shunted back into the under-21 squad for the entirety of 1999.

An impressive debut campaign at Arsenal earned Henry a recall which he emphatically made the most of. Prowling in front of Zinedine Zidane, Henry scored three times as France defeated a star-studded list of opponents in a triumphant sequence which he described as “like some type of Hollywood script”.

10. Romelu Lukaku – 6

Belgium

Romelu Lukaku was a spell-binding prodigy at club level. The former Anderlecht striker made his professional debut 11 days after turning 16, coming off the bench in a Championship play-off final to decide the 2009 Belgian champion. But it was more of a slow burn for the international team.

After racking up 11 goals in his first six years playing for the Red Devils, Lukaku embarked upon a staggering sequence between the European Championships of 2016 and 2020. Despite scoring 53 goals in 56 caps, including six in tournament football, Lukaku was not able to steer his richly talented generation of compatriots beyond the quarter-finals.

9. Nuno Gomes – 6

Portugal

Nuno Gomes holds the rare – and unwanted distinction – of being the only player in the history of the European Championships to have scored and earned a red card in the same game. The early Alice-band advocate put Portugal in front against France in the semi-finals of Euro 2000 before becoming embroiled in one of the most controversial moments the tournament has ever witnessed.

Gomes was one of three Portuguese players sent off during the protestations against a penalty that Zinedine Zidane would score to win the knockout tie. The striker’s shove on referee Gunter Benko earned him an eight-month UEFA ban. Gomes had slid down Portugal’s pecking order but returned to find the net in 2004 and 2008.

8. Wayne Rooney – 6

England

According to Wayne Rooney, he was “not a natural goalscorer”. This didn’t stop him from finishing his career as the most prolific player in the history of Manchester United and England’s national team. The zenith of Rooney’s career undoubtedly came at Euro 2004.

England’s teenage tyro lived up to the comparisons with Pele which had been made by England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, bullying the continent’s best players with consecutive group-stage braces. Rooney’s golden summer was brought to a screeching halt by injury in the quarter-finals against Portugal, and he only managed two more Euro goals. Imagine how many he could have scored if he had been a natural.

7. Ruud van Nistelrooy – 6

Netherlands

Manchester United pulled out of a move to sign Ruud van Nistelrooy two months before the start of Euro 2000 as they were unconvinced by the strength of his knee. The PSV Eindhoven forward promptly suffered cruciate ligament damage and missed the entire tournament. After joining United 12 months later, Van Nistelrooy’s four goals at Euro 2004 helped the Netherlands advance to the semi-finals before coming unstuck against host nation Portugal.

The prolific poacher only scored one of his 150 competitive goals for United from outside the 18-yard box and proved even more reliant upon close-range finishes on the continental stage. The only one of Van Nistelrooy’s six Euro goals that came from beyond the six-yard area was a penalty.

6. Alvaro Morata – 6

Spain

Alvaro Morata may be the most prolific Spanish player in European Championship history, but he hasn’t received the public support to go alongside such an impressive status. The perennially morose forward who scored three goals at Euro 2016 was booed throughout the group stage of Euro 2020 which Spain played in front of their fans.

Even Morata’s wife and children – who committed the heinous act of wearing shirts with their family name on the back – were verbally abused by fans in the stadium. The embattled Spaniard couldn’t sleep after missing a penalty against Slovakia but insisted he was “motivated” by the wretched reaction from his compatriots. Morata duly knocked out Croatia in the round of 16 with a late winner and came off the bench to equalize against Italy in the semi-finals. The critics would have the last laugh, though, as Morata failed to convert his spot kick in the subsequent shootout.

5. Patrick Kluivert – 6

Netherlands

Only three players in the history of the men’s Dutch national team have scored more goals than Patrick Kluivert. The jet-heeled striker’s record is made all the more impressive by the fact that not a single one of his 40 strikes came from the penalty spot. Though that wasn’t for a lack of trying, Kluivert missed the two penalties he took at international level.

The former Ajax Champions League winner had scored 15 goals in as many internationals heading into the Euro 2000 semi-final against Italy. Despite losing Gianluca Zambrotta to a red card after 34 minutes, Italy valiantly kept the game goalless until winning the penalty shootout. After watching Frank de Boer fail to convert from 12 yards in the first half of normal time, Kluivert struck the woodwork with his spot kick after the interval. The tournament’s Golden Boot winner was the only Dutch player to score in the subsequent shootout as Italy advanced to a final against France.

4. Antoine Griezmann – 7

France

There’s little doubt as to how highly Didier Deschamps rates Antoine Griezmann. The World Cup-winning French manager played the ephemeral forward in 84 internationals on the spin between 2017 and 2024. After Griezmann broke Patrick Vieira’s record for consecutive French starts, Deschamps hailed his star pupil as “one of the greatest players of all time, both in Europe and worldwide”.

Griezmann’s value to Deschamps stretches far beyond his goal record. The Atletico Madrid icon finished as top scorer at Euro 2016 with six goals before only finding the net once in the competition four years later. Yet there was scarcely any criticism of Griezmann at Euro 2020 as he produced another tournament display littered with creativity and a selfless defensive work ethic.

3. Alan Shearer – 7

England

Heading into England’s home tournament of Euro 1996, Alan Shearer hadn’t scored for his country in almost two years and 12 games. Rob Lee, Graeme Le Saux and Nick Barmby had all found the net more recently than the nation’s first-choice striker. But manager Terry Venables was adamant that the Newcastle United number nine would lead the line in the opening game against Switzerland.

Shearer rewarded Venables’ faith with the first of five goals during that glorious summer, finishing as the tournament’s top scorer. The most prolific player in Premier League history would never again have his position questioned, becoming England captain after the competition.

2. Michel Platini – 9

France

Few players in football history have enjoyed a major tournament as comprehensively dominant as Michel Platini’s evisceration of all before him at Euro 1984. The French box-crashing midfielder was the ruthless edge of an immensely talented side that romped to victory on home soil.

Platini scored in all five matches, including a pair of perfect hat-tricks – comprising a goal with both feet and a header – in the space of four days. No other player in the history of the competition has ever scored more than one treble. Zinedine Zidane, acting as a ball boy on his 12th birthday, watched Platini deliver a 119th-minute winner in the semi-final against Portugal before the ruthless finisher downed Spain with the opening goal of the final.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo – 14

Portugal

Lothar Matthaus appeared for Germany in the most recent European Championships which Cristiano Ronaldo missed. One of the greatest players of all time has been an immovable fixture of the continental competition since helping Portugal reach the final of their home tournament in 2004, when his nation lost to shock finalists Greece after a tearful Ronaldo squandered his side’s best chances.

Ronaldo’s second appearance in a Euros final also inspired some waterworks. Portugal’s sobbing talisman was stretchered off in the 2016 showpiece against France with a sprained knee. Ronaldo reappeared with plenty of strapping and even more words of encouragement, barking orders from the sidelines next to his manager Fernando Santos. The competition’s all-time top scorer had to rely upon an unlikely goal from Eder – his first and only at the Euros – to win the tournament.

Stats via TransferMarkt. Correct as of 30th May 2024.