On Tuesday evening, Neymar became just the third player from South America to reach 75 goals on the international stage.
Neymar’s strike in a World Cup warm-up means he joins Pele and Lionel Messi in an exclusive three-man club.
The 30-year-old is close to surpassing Pele’s all-time goalscoring record in Brazil, which stands at 77. He could still do it this year in Qatar.
Neymar’s record on international duty is truly exceptional and something that is further highlighted by his current goals per game ratio.
The former Barcelona man now averages 0.62 goals per game for Brazil, a record better than Cristiano Ronaldo’s for Portugal.
don’t you believe us? Well, we have the numbers to prove it.
Below is a ranked list of the top 20 active male players with 50 or more international goals by their goals per match ratio.
Let’s begin…
Who has the best international goals-per-game ratio?
20. Bader Al-Mutawa (Kuwait) | 56 goals | 0.29 goals-per-game
19. Alexis Sanchez (Chile) | 50 goals | 0.33 goals-per-game
18. Shinji Okazaki (Japan) | 50 goals | 0.42 goals-per-game
17. Edinson Cavani (Uruguay) | 58 goals | 0.44 goals-per-game
16. Teerasil Dangda (Thailand) | 53 goals | 0.46 goals-per-game
15. Asamoah Gyan (Ghana) | 51 goals | 0.47 goals-per-game
14. Javier Hernandez (Mexico) | 52 goals | 0.48 goals-per-game
13. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden) | 62 goals | 0.51 goals-per-game
12. Edin Dzeko (Bosnia & Herzegovina) | 64 goals | 0.51 goals-per-game
11. Luis Suarez (Uruguay) | 68 goals | 0.51 goals-per-game
10. Lionel Messi (Argentina) | 90 goals | 0.55 goals-per-game
9. Robert Lewandowski (Poland) | 76 goals | 0.57 goals-per-game
8. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) | 117 goals | 0.61 goals-per-game
7. Neymar (Brazil) | 75 goals | 0.62 goals-per-game
6. Ali Ashfaq (Maldives) | 57 goals | 0.64 goals-per-game
5. Sunil Chhetri (India) | 84 goals | 0.64 goals-per-game
4. Aleksandar Mitrovic (Serbia) | 50 goals | 0.66 goals-per-game
3. Romelu Lukaku (Belgium) | 68 goals | 0.67 goals-per-game
2. Harry Kane (England) | 51 goals | 0.68 goals-per-game
Thanks to Ronaldo’s two blanks against Czech Republic and Spain, Neymar has creeped ahead, while the Brazilian is a considerable distance clear of both PSG teammate Messi and Lewandowski.
But all four miss out on a spot in the top five, which is something of a shock.
Kane, Lukaku and Mitrovic’s ratios are seriously special, though. The European trio will go down as three of the greatest strikers in the history of international football, of that we feel certain.
And a special shoutout to the man in first place, Mabkhout, whose prolificacy with the UAE is the stuff of legend.
