EXCLUSIVE UPDATED ALL-TIME CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TOP SCORERS LIST AS OF JANUARY 2026
Cristiano Ronaldo remains the UCL king with 140 goals. Explore the full list of all-time top scorers as of January 2026.
Who are the top scorers in Champions League history? Let’s break it down.
Cristiano Ronaldo: 140 Goals
Cristiano Ronaldo sits at the very top. He’s scored 140 goals in 183 Champions League games—no one else is close. These days, he’s at Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, so that number probably isn’t going higher. Most of those goals came in a Real Madrid shirt (105), but he also found the net 21 times for Manchester United and 14 for Juventus.
Nobody’s managed more goals in a single Champions League season than Ronaldo: he hit 17 for Madrid in 2013-14, the year they beat Atlético in the final. Just two years later, he almost matched it with 16. Across his career, he’s finished as the competition’s top scorer seven times—a record that stretches back through both the European Cup and Champions League eras.
Ronaldo has scored in 93 different Champions League matches, which is just over half the games he’s played. He’s bagged eight hat-tricks too, a record he shares with Lionel Messi. Over the years, he’s scored against 38 different teams—no one’s suffered more than Juventus, who conceded 10 of his goals, the most anyone’s let in against a single player.
Lionel Messi: 129 Goals
Messi comes next, with 129 goals. He actually holds the record for most goals for a single club—120 with Barcelona. After his move to PSG in 2021, he added nine more, but now that he’s at Inter Miami in MLS, it’s hard to see him adding to that tally.
Messi has scored against 40 different clubs in the Champions League, more than anyone—including Ronaldo. Arsenal were his favourite victims; he scored nine past them. He’s also found the net in 18 different Champions League seasons, scoring in every campaign since 2005-06. Only Karim Benzema has matched that.
Messi and Ronaldo both have eight Champions League hat-tricks, but Messi went one better in 2012: he scored five in a single game against Bayer Leverkusen. That was during his unbelievable 2011-12 season, when he racked up 73 goals in 60 games for Barcelona.
Robert Lewandowski: 105 Goals
Lewandowski isn’t far behind. He hit his 100th Champions League goal in November, scoring for Barcelona against Brest. Most of his goals (69) came at Bayern Munich, but he’s now scored more than 10 for both Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona—which only Ronaldo has done before.
He’s Bayern’s all-time top scorer in Europe, beating Gerd Müller’s record. In 2019-20, Lewandowski scored 15 times in the competition, leading Bayern to the title and becoming the first Polish player to finish as top scorer in a Champions League season.
Karim Benzema: 90 Goals
Finally, there’s Benzema, who reached 90 Champions League goals before leaving for Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia. He’s scored in every one of the 18 seasons he’s played in the competition, which is pretty incredible.
Benzema only won the Champions League golden boot once, in 2021-22, when he scored 15 to help Real Madrid lift the trophy. He didn’t score in the final, but he’d already done enough. With 78 goals for Madrid, only Ronaldo has more for the club.
Raúl: 71 Goals
Raúl isn’t just a Real Madrid legend—he’s also their third-highest scorer in the Champions League, racking up 66 goals for the club. When you add up his full tally, including his time at Schalke, he sits at 71 goals in the competition, the fifth highest in history.
For a long time, Raúl led the Champions League scoring charts. He held onto that top spot until November 2014, when Messi and Ronaldo finally caught up and passed him. Raúl was also the first player ever to hit 50 goals in the UCL, doing it back in September 2005. For Real Madrid, he was the first to reach 50 goals in European competitions, beating the legendary Alfredo Di Stéfano’s old record of 49.
His last Champions League season came with Schalke in 2010-11, where, at 33, he still managed to score five more times. That brought his total up to 71—more than double any other Spaniard in UCL history. Fernando Morientes is the closest, and he only managed 33.
Other Players with 50+ UCL Goals
Kylian Mbappé: 66 Goals
Kylian Mbappé hit his 50th Champions League goal during Real Madrid’s match against Atalanta on December 10, 2024.
He was just 25 years and 356 days old then, making him the second-youngest ever to reach that milestone. Only Messi did it younger, at 24 years and 284 days, back in April 2012.
Mbappé got to 50 in 79 games, making him the fourth fastest to the mark. The only players to do it quicker? Ruud van Nistelrooy (62 games), Messi (66), and Lewandowski (77).
Thomas Müller: 57 Goals
Since debuting in 2008-09, Thomas Müller has scored 57 Champions League goals and set up 25 more.
He’s won the competition twice with Bayern Munich—first in 2012-13, then again in 2019-20.
Ruud van Nistelrooy: 56 Goals
Ruud van Nistelrooy scored 56 Champions League goals, but he might’ve had even more if he’d played in the competition earlier. Before turning 25 and joining Manchester United, he only played 11 UCL games for PSV.
Nobody hit 50 Champions League goals faster than Van Nistelrooy—he did it in just 62 appearances, though he was already 31 at the time.
For Manchester United, he scored 35 times, a club record that still stands above Wayne Rooney’s 30 and Ryan Giggs’ 28.
Erling Haaland: 55 Goals
Erling Haaland tore up the record books in September 2025, smashing the speed record for reaching 50 Champions League goals—he did it in just 49 games.
Counting his goals for Salzburg, Dortmund, and Manchester City, Haaland blew past Van Nistelrooy’s previous record of 62 games to 50 goals. He didn’t stop there—on Matchday 2 of the 2025-26 season, he scored twice more against Monaco, reaching 52 goals in his first 50 appearances. The old record for most goals in a player’s first 50 UCL games? Van Nistelrooy’s 43. Haaland left that in the dust.
Thierry Henry: 50 Goals
Thierry Henry hit 50 Champions League goals during his time at three clubs: 35 for Arsenal, eight at Barcelona, and seven with Monaco.
He got off to a flying start as a 20-year-old at Monaco, bagging six goals in his first five UCL games before heading to Arsenal in 1999-00. To this day, his 35 goals make him Arsenal’s top scorer in Champions League and European Cup history.
Here’s a look at the all-time top scorers in the UEFA Champions League, and wow, some of these numbers are wild. Cristiano Ronaldo leads the way with a staggering 140 goals. Messi isn’t far behind with 129. Lewandowski sits at 105, and Benzema’s right there with 90. Then there’s Raúl at 71, showing the old guard still holds a spot.
Mbappé’s already at 66, which is kind of ridiculous considering his age. Müller has 57, and van Nistelrooy’s just behind him with 56. Haaland, also pretty young, is already up to 55. Henry rounds out the top ten with 50 goals.
Salah, Shevchenko, and Ibrahimovic are all tied at 48. Inzaghi’s got 46, and Harry Kane’s at 45 (and honestly, he’s still going strong). Drogba’s 44; Neymar and Griezmann both have 43, and Del Piero and Agüero finish off the list with 42 and 41 goals each. Legends everywhere you look.
ARSENAL POCKET INSANE £125.18M FOLLOWING CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL QUALIFICATION
Mikel Arteta's side has added £15.97m to their cash reserves, eclipsing the total earned by current champions PSG last year.
Arsenal have added another £15.97 million to their UEFA prize money haul after securing a spot in the Champions League final with a win against Atletico Madrid. They are set to face either Bayern Munich or the current champions, Paris Saint-Germain, in Budapest on May 30, aiming for their first-ever triumph in this prestigious competition.
Beyond that, there’s an additional £5.61 million up for grabs in Hungary later this month. But up to now, Arsenal have amassed an eye-watering £125.18 million in Champions League prize money this season alone. A place in next season’s European Super Cup also carries a potential reward of around £3.45 million. It’s been a remarkable European run under Mikel Arteta, with the team dominating the group stage by winning all eight matches.
From the very beginning, the club benefited from the initial distribution of TV revenue and the rankings pool, which together amounted to £49.6 million. Even before the knockout rounds kicked off, Arsenal had already secured £85.3 million in prize money.
That total doesn’t even cover the bonuses linked to their on-field success, as each of their eight victories in the group stage brought in roughly £15.8 million altogether.
By finishing first out of 36 group-phase clubs, Arsenal earned an extra £8.6 million, and progressing straight to the round of 16 as one of the top eight teams secured them another £11.3 million.
They continued their strong run by eliminating Bayer Leverkusen after a 1-1 draw away and a 2-0 win at the Emirates, which added £10.8 million more to their earnings.
Overcoming Sporting CP in the quarter-finals also brought a £10.8 million bonus. While Arsenal’s motivation isn’t just financial, this level of income certainly aids in meeting profit and sustainability rules and other financial fair play criteria.
It’s also likely to support their summer transfer budget, as sporting director Andrea Berta looks to build on Arteta’s squad.
Last season, Arsenal took home £98.63 million after reaching the semi-finals before falling to PSG.
PSG, who went on to win the title, collected about £124.62 million last year, so Arsenal have now already surpassed that figure.
Meanwhile, UEFA has set aside a record £2.13 billion in prize money for the 2025-26 Champions League season, highlighting the competition’s growing financial stakes.
JAN OBLAK CONFESSES ATLETICO WERE "AFRAID TO PLAY" AGAINST ARSENAL
Following their Champions League exit, skipper Jan Oblak analysed where Atletico went wrong and paid tribute to Griezmann.
Jan Oblak didn’t hold back after Atletico Madrid crashed out of the Champions League against Arsenal. He said straight up that the team just didn’t do enough to earn a spot in the final. Sure, he’s proud of how far the squad has come recently, but the way they went out still stings.
Oblak was pretty open about where things went wrong, especially after the first leg, when Atletico failed to take an advantage back to London. “I'm disappointed, just like all the fans. Honestly, I can’t find the words. We didn’t do enough to be in the final, and it’s just a tough moment. We had our chances to win, but we didn’t take them. All that’s left is to congratulate Arsenal.”
He didn’t stop there, either. Speaking to CBS Golazo, Oblak was even more direct about the team’s mentality, especially in the first half of both matches. He felt Atletico were hesitant, too respectful of Arsenal, and afraid to play. Both times, they fell behind before halftime and then tried to play catch-up, but it was always a little too late. “This has happened several times this season,” Oblak said, “and while we’ve managed to win those games before, not today when it mattered most.”
On the flip side, Oblak did give some credit to the young players and the growth the team’s shown, especially after a couple of big summers that saw a huge part of the squad change. “The last two seasons, we’ve switched out something like 15 players. A lot of young guys with not much experience came in. They did great in the cup, and they’ve held up in the Champions League too. In the league, we weren’t good enough for the biggest matches, but I’m proud of how the younger ones are growing. Still, when the goal is to win a title, and you don’t, you can’t call it a success. All we can do is look forward and hope we’ll be fighting for trophies next season.”
Saying goodbye to Antoine Griezmann made this exit even sadder for Oblak and the rest of the squad. Griezmann’s heading to Orlando City this summer, bringing the curtain down on his Champions League career with Atletico. “Everyone’s going to miss Griezi; he’s an incredible player and a great guy. The kind of person who’s always smiling, always positive, and does things on the pitch nobody else can. We’ll miss him a lot; the fans will miss him, but he deserves nothing but the best wherever he goes.”
At 33, Oblak is one of Atletico’s true leaders, right behind Koke for the captain’s armband. Alongside Jose Maria Gimenez and Marcos Llorente, he’s been a
_1777554856.webp)
