Players with most goals in a calendar year in football history & where Mbappe currently ranks

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·6 December 2025

Players with most goals in a calendar year in football history & where Mbappe currently ranks

Kylian Mbappe has had a year to remember in 2025 and with four games remaining, he still has the chance to move up this list before the year is done.

For the purposes of this article, we’ve gone back throughout football history and have found the most prolific players for club and country.

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Here are the 10 players with the most goals in a calendar year and where Mbappe currently ranks.

1. Lionel Messi (2012) – 91 goals

This record is going to take some beating.

Messi was at his most prolific in 2012, playing as a false-nine at Barcelona under the management of Pep Guardiola.

While the 38-year-old reigns over everyone else on this article, he recently admitted that the record doesn’t mean much to him as he’s never been the type of player to chase numbers.

“In 2012, I scored around 91 goals,” Messi said during an interview with ESPN.

“I don’t play for that, I never cared about it. It wasn’t in my mind to make an assist just to break a record or surpass someone else.

“It’s hard to choose one year [as my best]; thankfully I’ve had many very good ones.”

2. Gerd Muller (1972) – 85 Goals

Up until 2012, Muller held this particular record, having scored 85 goals in the calendar year of 1972.

It was quite the year for the German forward as he won the Euros that year and scored a brace in the final, beating the Soviet Union 3-0.

Despite his goalscoring prowess, he finished second in the Ballon d’Or in 1972, finishing as runner-up to his teammate Franz Beckenbauer.

3. Pele (1958) – 75 Goals

Pele held the record for 14 years before Muller came along and smashed it in 1972.

He won the World Cup with Brazil that year as a teenager, scoring in the quarter-final, semi-final and final.

4. Pele (1965) – 72 Goals

His second most prolific year came in 1965, seven years after he’d won his first World Cup with Brazil.

By this point, he was in his mid-twenties and was scoring goals for fun at both club and international level.

In the regular league season, he scored 49 goals in 28 appearances, averaging 1.75 goals per game. Crazy numbers.

5. Zico (1979) – 72 Goals

Otherwise known as the ‘white Pele’, Zico was practically unstoppable in 1979.

Considering that he wasn’t an out-and-out striker, it’s some effort that he managed to score 72 goals in a single calendar year.

While he did enjoy some success at club level with Flamengo that year, he missed out on a Copa America trophy as Brazil were beaten by Paraguay in the semi-final.

6. Romario (2000) – 72 Goals

Romario enjoyed his most prolific year in 2000, aged 34.

He was playing in Brazil at the time for Vasco da Gama and was still part of the Brazil squad, too. The Brazilian continued to score goals well into his late thirties before eventually retiring in 2009.

=7. Robert Lewandowski (2021) – 69 Goals

The Polish striker broke all sorts of scoring records in 2021 and won the league, DFL-Supercup, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.

Unsurprisingly, his efforts won him numerous Golden Boots in 2021, although it wasn’t quite enough to earn him a Ballon d’Or as he finished second behind Messi that year.

=7. Cristiano Ronaldo (2013) – 69 Goals

Ronaldo’s most prolific year of his career came in 2013, when he scored 69 goals in 59 games for club and country.

Despite his insane output, CR7 ended the calendar year of 2013 without a major trophy, although he did get his hands on the Ballon d’Or.

9. Cristiano Ronaldo (2012) – 63 Goals

A year prior to 2013, Ronaldo also enjoyed one of his best scoring seasons.

This year in Ronaldo’s career is often overshadowed by Messi, given he scored 91 goals in 2012, but CR7’s output shouldn’t be underestimated.

It’s also worth noting that Ronaldo’s goals in 2012 did lead to silverware as Real Madrid beat Barcelona to the La Liga title, collecting 100 points in the 2011-12 campaign.