Nigerians have scored 63 UEFA Champions League goals
As well as helping Leicester into the Champions League quarter-finals, Wes Morgan’s goal against Sevilla created a little bit of international history too.
The Foxes skipper bundled home a cross in the 27th minute, putting his side ahead on away goals and making him the first Jamaican to ever score in the competition.
Morgan, who has won 30 caps for Jamaica since making his debut back in 2013, ensured his country are the 97th nation to have provided a goalscorer. The detail statistics of countries and their goals were compiled and published by Mailonline Sport after the Tuesday, March 14 games in the Champions League.
Including Jamaica, 12 countries have just a single Champions League scorer – Benin, Cape Verde Islands, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Honduras, Iraq, Kenya, Martinique, Sierra Leone, Suriname and Tahiti.
In contrast, there have been 180 different Brazilian scorers (not including own goals) in the competition’s history – the most of any nation.
France are second with 174 different scorers, ahead of Spain (135), Germany (124), Italy (99), Holland (90), Argentina (83), Portugal (83) and England (73).
While the Brazilians lead the world, Nigeria stands second on the ladder for African countries. The contributions of the likes of Nwankwo Kanu and Finidi George with Ajax Amsterdam and later Arsenal for Kanu; Ahmed Musa and the rare hit of Mikel Obi for Chelsea contributed to the goals. The younger generation of Manchester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho and Alex Iwobi of Arsenal should help pump up the goals for Nigeria.
Ivory Coast that has featured one of Africa’s greatest Didier Drogba lead the table for the continent with 116 goals. They stand behind Croatia with 124 goals. The West African country has featured also Yaya Toure several seasons in Europe’s biggest club competition. Cameroon with prolific scorer Samuel Eto’o is 55 goals third on the African chart – four less than Wales on the overall world chart.
Brazil is also responsible for the most Champions League goals, with a whopping 772 – 144 more than second-placed Spain – since the 1992-93 season.
Orlando City star Kaka, who enjoyed a glittering career in Europe with Real Madrid and AC Milan, remains the highest-scoring Brazilian in Champions League history, having netted 30 goals before moving to Major League Soccer in 2014.
Spain’s top scorer remains Real legend Raul, who netted 71 goals in Europe’s elite club competition before leaving the continent in 2012.
His impressive record helps Spain stay above France (593 goals), Germany (466), Argentina (464) and Holland (420)
However, Raul’s total is some way off those of Cristiano Ronaldo (95) and Lionel Messi (94), who have continued their battle to become the competition’s all-time leading scorer throughout the current campaign.
Ronaldo’s haul accounts for nearly a third of all goals scored by Portuguese players (322) in the competition, while Messi’s isn’t far off a quarter of Argentina’s total.
When it comes to English players, the goals have been spread around much more evenly. Wayne Rooney’s 30 Champions League strikes make him the top-scoring Englishman, but his total is less than a tenth of the country’s total (338).
Champions League goals by nationality of scorer
- Brazil 772
- Spain 628
- France 593
- Germany 466
- Argentina 464
- Netherlands 420
- Italy 397
- England 338
Portugal 322
- Norway 153
Russia 151
Ukraine 137
Sweden 128
Turkey 126
Croatia 124
Côte d’Ivoire 116
Czech Republic 113
Greece 111
Belgium 99
Uruguay 95
Serbia 93
Poland 81
Romania 77
Denmark 74
Switzerland 67
Nigeria 63
Wales 59
Cameroon 55
Chile 47
Scotland 44
Colombia 42
Finland 42
Bosnia-Herzegovina 40
Ghana 40
Mexico 37
Austria 36
Peru 36
Paraguay 32
Republic of Ireland 32
Belarus 29
Bulgaria 28
Slovakia 28
Morocco 27
Israel 26
Yugoslavia 26
Algeria 23
Mali 21
Senegal 21
Montenegro 18
Slovenia 18
Cyprus 16
Hungary 15
South Africa 15
USA 13
Uzbekistan 13
Gabon 12
Togo 12
Congo DR 11
Japan 11
Liberia 11
Trinidad and Tobago 11
Ecuador 10
Georgia 10
Macedonia 9
Iceland 8
.Iran 8
Korea Republic 8
Australia 7
Burkina Faso 7
Canada 6
Egypt 6
Guinea 6
Costa Rica 5
Armenia 4
Chad 4
New Zealand 4
Albania 3
Bolivia 3
Lithuania 3
Venezuela 3
Latvia 2
Northern Ireland 2
Tajikistan 2
Tunisia 2
Zimbabwe 2
Benin 1
Cape Verde Islands 1
Congo 1
Equatorial Guinea 1
Honduras 1
Iraq 1
Jamaica 1
Kenya 1
Martinique 1
Sierra Leone 1
Suriname 1
Tahiti 1