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