Top scorers in 2024… with Haaland & Kane beaten and Ronaldo dethroned

Sporty striker Viktor Gyokeres has been confirmed as world football's top scorer in 2024.

The 26-year-old has had a breakthrough year for club and country, scoring an impressive 62 times in games for the Portuguese giants and his national team Sweden.

Gyokeres, who has scored five goals in six Champions League games this season, has scored 13 more goals than Manchester City's Erling Haaland this calendar year, while his total is 16 better than that of Harry Kane.

One of the former Coventry striker's most notable efforts came in Sporting's 4-1 defeat to Man City last month, when he completed a stunning hat-trick in one of Ruben Amorim's final games at the club.

Since the departure of his former bosses to Manchester United, the Swede has been linked with a move to Old Trafford, but his surprising form has also seen a number of European clubs express their interest.

'Naturally [moving to Sporting] was different because I had the goal of playing in the Premier League,” Gyokeres told the Swedish Daily earlier this month. 'That was my focus and the adjustment was difficult… but I thought about it, I talked to people around me who helped me a lot.

'It started to look more and more like it was the right choice: playing in a top team and getting more opportunities during matches. In the end, it seems like this was the best choice for me.”

The striker is the first player to score more than 60 goals in a year since Robert Lewandowski in 2021. The Barcelona star is one of only seven players to top the calendar year rankings in the last 13 years.

Lionel Messi's total of 91 in 2012 remains an all-time record and will likely remain so for some time. Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo holds the record for winning the top scorer award on the most occasions (5).

The Portuguese's most recent victory came in 2023, when he found the net 54 times. Ronaldo's total of 43 in 2024 for Al-Nassr and Portugal was only enough to put him in fourth place.

Elsewhere, Kylian Mbappe sneaked into the top ten with 39 goals, while Lille striker Jonathan David was the most prolific striker in France with 40.

Lesser-known duo Ayoub El Kaabi and Rafaelson, active in Greece and Vietnam respectively, achieved the same goal, while Wu Lei went two better for Shanghai Port and the Chinese national team.

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