Top Striker of the 21st Century: Didier Drogba [UPDATE]

Chelsea striker and Ivory Coast international, Didier Drogba, was named the top striker of the XXI Century according to the International Federation of Football History & Statistics  (IFFHS) after reaching 100.

After 11 ½ years the top African player Didier Drogba has become the first player in the 21st Century to reach the magic number of 100 international goals and with it he extended his lead ahead of the second-placed German Miroslav Klose and the no longer active Dutchman “Ruud” Van Nistelrooij.
Below is the list for the top 10 list of the top strikers of the 21st Century (so far):

1. Didier Drogba (CIV) (O. Marsella/Chelsea) 100
2. Miroslav Klose (GER) (Kaiserslautern/W.Bremen/Bayern/Lazio) 90
3. Ruud van Nistelrooy (HOL) (Manchester Utd./R.Madrid/Hamburgo/Málaga) 87
4. Thierry Henry (FRA) (Arsenal/Barcelona) 85
5. Samuel Eto’o (CMR) (Mallorca/Barcelona/Inter) 84

– Lionel Messi (ARG) (Barcelona) 84
7. David Villa (ESP) (Zaragoza/Valencia/Barcelona) 80
8. Raúl González (ESP) (Real Madrid/Schalke 04) 80

9. Cristiano Ronaldo (POR) (Manchester United/Real Madrid) 76

10. Flávio da Silva Amado (ANG) (At.Petróleos Luanda/Al-Ahly/Al-Shabab) 75

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etKJm7i0K6I]

For this list, the IFFHS took into account only international goals scored in the following competitions and matches will take into consideration:

  •  all full “A” internationals
  •  Olympic final tournament
  •  FIFA Club World Cup
  •  continental club competitions of the UEFA, CONMEBOL, CONCACAF, AFC, CAF and OFC
  •  continental Super Cup matches of the six confederations
  •  official matches between the topical continental club champions, which take place among the direction of the continental   confederations

Only four other additional players have made the “Top 100” of the 21st Century so far in 2012: Blas Antonio Miguel Pérez (Panama), Mohammad Mahmoud Ghaddar (Lebanon), Michel Mifsud (Malta), Álvaro Alberto Saborío (Costa Rica).

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