“Soccer is a world made of numbers”. A phrase which would make any mathematician proud, with the eternal claim that you can find mathematics anywhere.

And where better to find numbers than Goal Totals: the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS), the famous (and often criticized) organization that chronicles the history of football, has just published its World’s Top Goal Scorer of 2007 ranking.

No, the results are further from probably anything you may expect.

Indeed, the criteria for selection are goals scored in full “A” international matches (i.e. with the national team), as well as goals scored in [inter]continental club competitions (i.e. UEFA Champions’ League, Copa Libertadores, and the like). No room for national competitions. As a result, this year’s topscorer turns out to be congolese striker Trésor Mputu Mabi, followed by Paraguayan Salvador Cabanas and (finally a well-known name) Argentine Juan Román Riquelme.

Trésor Mputu, a 22-year old playing for Congolese club TP Mazembe Lubumbashi (sounds Japanese doesn’t it?), achieves his total of 20 goals by grabbing, among others, the topscorer title of the African Champions League and the African CAF Cup (still ongoing)! This, according to IFFHS’s data, elects him World’s Top Goal Scorer of 2007.

In case you’re wondering “Ok, but how good is this guy really?”, Mputu is already in the crosshairs of many European clubs, including Arsenal and Sevilla. He gets the personal thumbs up of Claude Le Roy, ex-manager of Cameroon and Congo, and who is now coaching the Black Stars of Ghana (in other words, someone who’s been around African soccer for quite a while). As a reminder, Le Roy was the one that launched Samuel Eto’o during the 1998 World Cup in France, when the Cameroonian was still only 17 years old.

Right behind Mputu, we find 27-year old Club América striker Salvador Cabañas (responsible for 14 goals with the Mexican club and 4 goals in the Paraguyana national team) ranked 2^nd with 18 goals, and Juan Román Riquelme in 3^rd position with 17 (8 goals with Boca Juniors, 9 goals with Argentina). Riquelme would have probably been ranked higher, had he not been excluded from the recent FIFA Club World Cup in Japan (due to his late transfer from Villareal).

To find the first European-based players we have to drop down to 5^th spot, right after Noh Alam Shah of Singapore’s Tampines Rovers FC, and his 15 goals. At nº5 we find Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year winner Kaká (14 goals, 9 club – 5 internat’l), followed by Tottenham’s Dimitar Berbatov (13 goals, 5-8) and Man Utd’s Cristiano Ronaldo (13 goals, 8-5).

First Italian player in the ranking: the ever-eternal Filippo Inzaghi, ranked 11^th with 12 goals (10 in the CL, 2 with the Azzurri). Luca Toni is 28^th with 10 goals.
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About the IFFHS and FULL RANKING

The IFFHS was founded in 1984 and is based in Bonn, Germany. Since 1991, the entity has also produced a monthly club world ranking. .

In the table below you can find the full “World’s Top Goalscorer of 2007′ rankings (which are also available on IFFHS’s official website). I’ve modified the columns a little bit, such as to clearly display club goals vs. international goals. Also, I’ve highlighted in bold all players based in Europe (UEFA).

The legend displays which world federation the player’s clubs belongs to:
AFC = Asian Football Confederation (Asia)
CAF = Confederation of African Football (Africa)
CONCACAF = Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (North America)
CONMEBOL = Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (South America)
OFC = Oceania Football Confederation (Oceania)
UEFA = Union Européenne de Football Association (Europe)

The separation of players by club federation yields interesting totals. Top-ranked is the UEFA federation with 64 players, and it comes to no surprise as the best players (and hence topscorers) are based in Europe. However, lower ranks reserve a few surprises.

UEFA (Europe)	64
AFC (Asia)	26
CAF (Africa)	10
CONCACAF (North Am.)	12
CONMEBOL (South Am.)	14
OFC (Oceania)	3

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Rank	Name	Club Team	Nat’l Team	GOALS
				Club	Nat’l	Total
1	Trésor Mputu Mabi	TP M. Lubumbashi	Congo DR	19	1	20
2	Salvador Cabañas	Club América México	Paraguay	14	4	18
3	Juan Román Riquelme	Boca Juniors	Argentina	8	9	17
4	M. Noh Alam Shah K.	Tampines Rovers FC	Singapore	3	12	15
5	Kaká	AC Milan	Brazil	9	5	14
6	Dimitar Berbatov	Tottenham	Bulgaria	5	8	13
7	Cristiano Ronaldo	Manchester United	Portugal	8	5	13
8	Yasser Al-Qahtani	Al-Hilal FC Riyadh	Saudi Arabia	0	12	12
	Sarayoot Chaikamdee	Pisico B.D. Qui Nhon	Thailand	0	12	12
	Osea Vakatalasau	Nokia Eagles United	Fiji	0	12	12
11	Filippo Inzaghi	AC Milan	Italy	10	2	12
12	Jon Dahl Tomasson	Villarreal CF	Denmark	4	7	11
13	Faisal Al-Ajab	Al-Merreikh Omdur.	Sudan	6	5	11
	Diego Forlán	Atletico Madrid	Uruguay	6	5	11
15	Razek Omotoyossi	Helsingborg IF	Benin	8	3	11
	Blas A. Miguel Pérez	Cúcuta Deportivo	Panamá	8	3	11
17	Frédéric Kanouté	Sevilla FC	Mali	9	2	11
18	Siu-Ki Chan	Kitchee FC	Hong Kong	0	10	10
	Seule Soromon	Suva FC	Vanuatu	0	10	10
20	Tae-Se Jong	Kawasaki Frontale	Korea DPR	2	8	10
21	Eduardo Da Silva	Arsenal	Croatia	3	7	10
22	Robinho	Real Madrid CF	Brazil	4	6	10
	Steffen Iversen	Rosenborg BK	Norway	4	6	10
	Lionel Messi	FC Barcelona	Argentina	4	6	10
	Marco Streller	FC Basel	Switzerland	4	6	10
	David Villa	Valencia CF	Spain	4	6	10
27	Flávio Amado da Silva	Al-Ahly Cairo	Angola	5	5	10
28	Luca Toni	Bayern Munich	Italy	6	4	10
29	Luís Fabiano	Sevilla FC	Brazil	8	2	10
30	Moham. A.A. Chermiti	Etoile Sp. du Sahel	Tunisia	9	1	10
31	Henrik Larsson	Man U.+ Helsingborg	Sweden	10	0	10
32	Landon Donovan	Los Angeles Galaxy	USA	0	9	9
33	Maksim Shatskikh	Dinamo Kyiv	Uzbekistan	1	8	9
34	Abdelhamid Amari	Al-Merreikh Omdur.	Sudan	2	7	9
	Issam Jomaa	RC Lens	Tunisia	2	7	9
36	Aleks. Kerzhakov	Sevilla FC	Russia	3	6	9
37	Rafael Van d. Vaart	Hamburger SV	Netherlands	4	5	9
38	Didier Drogba	Chelsea	Côte-d’Ivoire	5	4	9
	Mohammad Ghaddar	Al-Nejmeh Beirut	Lebanon	5	4	9
	Humberto Suazo	CSD Colo Colo Sant.	Chile	5	4	9
41	Peter Crouch	Liverpool FC	England	6	3	9
42	Salem Al-Rouani	Al-Ittihad Tripoli	Libya	7	2	9
	Hugo Almeida	Werder Bremen	Portugal	7	2	9
	Kerry Baptiste	Joe Public FC Tunap.	T. & Tobago	7	2	9
	Simão Sabrosa	Benfica + Atl.Madrid	Portugal	7	2	9
	Rom. Pavlyuchenko	FC Spartak Moscow	Russia	7	2	9
	Wayne Rooney	Manchester United	England	7	2	9
48	Zyad Chaabo	Al-Jaish Damascus	Syria	0	8	8
	David Healy	Leeds United	North. Ireland	0	8	8
50	Ismail M. Al-Junaibi	Al-Wahda Abu Dhabi	UAE	1	7	8
51	Daniel Arismendi	Union Atl. Maracaibo	Venezuela	2	6	8
	Adrián Mutu	Fiorentina	România	2	6	8
53	Omar Bravo	CD Guadalajara	México	4	4	8
	José P. Guerrero	Hamburger SV	Perú	4	4	8
	Mirko Vučinić	AS Roma	Crna Gora	4	4	8
56	Miroslav Klose	W.Bremen + Bayern	Germany	5	3	8
57	Ruud V. Nistelrooy	Real Madrid CF	Netherlands	6	2	8
58	Yssouf Koné	Rosenborg BK	Burkina Faso	8	0	8
	Hernán Rodrigo López	Asunción+Club Amér.	Paraguay	8	0	8
	Godwin Ndubuisi Eze	Al-Hilal Omdurman	Nigeria	8	0	8
61	W. Sebastián Abreu	Nacional Montevideo	Uruguay	0	7	7
	Cong-Vinh Le	TCDK S.L.N. An Vinh	Vietnam	0	7	7
	Commins Menapi	Youngheart Manaw.	Solomon Isl.	0	7	7
	Carlos Alberto Pavon	Real CD S.P. Sula	Honduras	0	7	7
	Thanh Bình Phan	Gach D. Tam Long An	Vietnam	0	7	7
	Pipat Tonkanya	BEC T.S. Bangkok	Thailand	0	7	7
67	Thierry Henry	FC Barcelona	France	2	5	7
	Kevin Kuranyi	FC Schalke 04	Germany	2	5	7
69	Marcus Allbäck	FC København	Sweden	4	3	7
70	Steven Gerrard	Liverpool FC	England	5	2	7
	Mamedaly Karadanov	FC HTTU O. Asgabat	Turkmenistan	5	2	7
72	Sergio Agüero	Atletico Madrid	Argentina	6	1	7
	Robbie Keane	Tottenham	Ireland	6	1	7
74	Zé Roberto	Santos + Bayern M.	Brazil	7	0	7
	Cheikh Oumar Dabo	Jeunesse Sp. Kabylie	Mali	7	0	7
	Christian Gimenez	Pachuca CF	Argentina	7	0	7
	Robert Winters	SK Brann Bergen	Scotland	7	0	7
78	Maher Al-Sayed	Al-Wahda Damascus	Syria	0	6	6
	Fan. I. Andriatsima	FC Nantes	Madagascar	0	6	6
	Ulugbek Bakayev	FC Tobol Qostanay	Uzbekistan	0	6	6
	Eliphène Alex. Cadet	AS Capoise Cap Haïti	Haitï	0	6	6
	John Carew	Lyon + Aston Villa	Norway	0	6	6
	Sunil Chetri	JCT M. Phagw. Punjab	India	0	6	6
	Theofanis Gekas	Bayer Leverkusen	Greece	0	6	6
	Gary Glasgow	Joe Public FC Tunap.	T. & Tobago	0	6	6
	Edmond Kapllani	Karlsruher SC	Albania	0	6	6
	Chih-En Lo	Yilan Senior H.S.	Chin. Taipei	0	6	6
	Giancarlo Maldonado	Union Atl. Maracaibo	Venezuela	0	6	6
	Zlatan Muslimović	FC Parma	Bosnia Herz.	0	6	6
	Andrés S.S. Quintana	Qatar SC Doha	Qatar	0	6	6
	Shane Smeltz	Wellington Phoenix	New Zealand	0	6	6
	Euzeb. Smolarek	Racing Santander	Polska	0	6	6
	Naohiro Takahara	Eintracht Frankfurt	Japan	0	6	6
94	Christian R. Benítez	Club El Nacional Quito	Ecuador	1	5	6
	Roque Santa Cruz	Blackburn Rovers	Paraguay	1	5	6
	Ronaldinho	FC Barcelona	Brazil	1	5	6
97	Walter Centeno	CD Saprissa S.J. Tibás	Costa Rica	2	4	6
	Amando Guevara	CD Mot. Tegucigalpa	Honduras	2	4	6
	Peng Han	Shandong L. Taishan	China	2	4	6
	Oliver Karekezi	Helsingborg IF	Rwanda	2	4	6
	Mamadou Niang	Marseille	Sénégal	2	4	6
	Adékami Olufadé	KAA Gent	Togo	2	4	6
103	Karim Benzema	Lyon	France	3	3	6
	Victor Nuñez	LD Alajuelense	Costa Rica	3	3	6
	Andriy Shevchenko	Chelsea	Ukraina	3	3	6
	Vágner Love	CSKA Moscow	Brazil	3	3	6
107	Odai Al-Saify	Sh. Al-O. Al-Qadisiya	Jordan	4	2	6
	René Aufhauser	Red Bull Salzburg	Austria	4	2	6
	Aleksandar Duric	Singap. Armed Forces	Singapore	4	2	6
	R. Falcao García	River Plate	Colombia	4	2	6
	Cristiano Lucarelli	Livorno+Shakhtar D.	Italy	4	2	6
	Obafemi Martins	Newcastle United	Nigeria	4	2	6
	V. Martín Sánchez	Club Deportivo Toluca	Uruguay	4	2	6
114	Dirk Kuijt	Liverpool FC	Netherlands	5	1	6
	Saniel Kuljic	FK Austria Wien	Austria	5	1	6
	Emad Mohammed	Sepahan Isfahan	Iraq	5	1	6
	Goran Pandev	Lazio	Macedonia	5	1	6
	Mahmoud Shelbaieh	Al-Wahdat Amman	Jordan	5	1	6
	Fabian Taylor	Harbour View FC	Jamaica	5	1	6
120	Andre Roberto Beto	Paraná + Litex Lov.	Brazil	6	0	6
	Wilfried G. Bony	Issia Wazi FC	Côte-d’Ivoire	6	0	6
	Kavin Bryan	Harbour View FC	Jamaica	6	0	6
	Ricardo M. Ciciliano	Los Millonarios Bogota	Colombia	6	0	6
	João S. da Mota Neto	Seongnam Ilhwa C.	Brazil	6	0	6
	Awad Deeb Ragheb	Al-Wahdat Amman	Jordan	6	0	6
	Endurance Idahor	Al-Merreikh Omdurman	Nigeria	6	0	6
	Steffen Hofmann	SK Rapid Wien	Germany	6	0	6
	Amin Ltaïef	Espérance Sp. Tunis	Tunisia	6	0	6
	Martín Palermo	Boca Juniors	Argentina	6	0	6

Posted in Miscellaneous, World News |

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