The all-time top 10 goalscorers in the Bundesliga including Muller, Lewandowski and more…
German football has a vibrant history of goal-scorers dating back to the inception of the competition in 1963, including some of the very best we’ve seen.
Since then, the competition has mostly been dominated by Bayern Munich, who have won it 32 times. Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Monchengladbach are tied in second place with five titles each, and there has certainly been a monopoly on the league title.
That has stretched to the players as well, with four of the top 10 scorers in the competition’s history all featuring for Bayern, and some iconic goal-scorers have dominated in Germany.
Having previously focused on other top leagues in Europe, we’ve decided to look at the top 10 goal-scorers in Bundesliga history to chart and celebrate the very best names.
10. Mario Gomez – 170 goals
Having netted goals consistently for Bayern, Wolfsburg and Stuttgart, Mario Gomez had proven time and time again that he was a reliable figure at the top end of the pitch in Germany.
He spent the entirety of his career in Germany apart from one spell at Fiorentina and was a clever and intimidating presence up top.
He topped the scoring charts once in Germany whilst at Bayern, where, arguably, he played his best football. From 2010 to 2012, he recorded his best-ever form, as he netted a total of 80 goals in two consecutive seasons, where he was considered one of Europe’s best marksmen at that time.
Plus, during his prime, he helped lead Germany to the Euro 2008 final, a third-place finish at both the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012.
9. Dieter Muller and Klaus Allofs – 177 goals
Both strikers began netting goals in the 1970s, and both became legends at FC Koln for their efforts.
Dieter Muller helped lead his side to one league title and two German Cups whilst becoming the top scorer in the division for two seasons in a row. His games-to-goal ratio is only beaten by the top two on this list, and with 159 in 248 games, he was a brilliant striker.
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Klaus Allofs boasted a similar career. While his goals came in more games at a slower rate, he won more trophies overall at multiple clubs, including being part of the West Germany side that won the Euros in 1980.
He was also a two-time Bundesliga top scorer, and while he didn’t win the title at Koln, he won the German Cup before then winning the league title at Werder Bremen with another German Cup before winning the Bundesliga as a manager after retiring.
8. Stefan Kuntz – 179 goals
While Stefan Kuntz has the worst goals-to-game ratio on the list, he was a highly respected figure who spent almost the entirety of his career in Germany.
The majority of his goals came at Lautern, but they were spread across his time at Bochum, Arminia Bielefeld, and KFC Uerdingen.
He was awarded the German Footballer of the Year award in 1991 after doing the league and super cup double with Lautern.
Looking at his best-ever campaigns, his highest tally for a league season was 22 in 34 games but he was consistently reaching double figures and wrote his name into the history books in doing so.
7. Ulf Kirsten – 181 goals
As well as featuring high on this list, Ulf Kirsten made history in his career by being the first player in history to reach a total of 100 caps playing with two different national teams (first for East Germany, then Reunified Germany).
In addition, he was a three-time Bundesliga top scorer, a German Cup winner, a Champions League final runner-up and the 1990 East Germany Player of the Year.
All of his goals came for Bayer Leverkusen, and he stands far and away as their top club goalscorer in their history, ahead of Stefan Kiessling and Dimitar Berbatov.
6. Claudio Pizarro – 197 goals
Interestingly, Claudio Pizarro’s first and last goal came 21 years apart in the Bundesliga, which is a testament to his longevity. The Peru international played for a number of clubs, including Bayern Munich, Werder Bremen and Koln and enjoyed multiple spells for the former.
Winning 16 trophies at Bayern and the German club with Bremen, he tasted plenty of silverware across his time but his legacy is tied to the many records he manages to still hold.
Those include: having the most appearances in Bundesliga by a foreign player (490 appearances), netting the second most Bundesliga goals scored by a foreign scorer, becoming the oldest player to score in Bundesliga history (40 years and 227 days) as well as being the oldest player to score a hat-trick in Bundesliga history (37 years and 151 days).
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5. Manfred Burgsmuller – 213 goals
As we head into the exclusive 200-club, Manfred Burgsmuller enters the list here having netted for four separate German clubs – with Borussia Dortmund being his most successful spell.
He netted 135 of his 213 goals for Dortmund and his goal stretched from 1969 to 1990 in a long and fruitful career.
Despite netting the amount of goals he did, he was only capped by West Germany on three occasions and won just two trophies in total; both came at Werder Bremen, where he won the Bundesliga and German Super Cup.
4. Jupp Heynckes – 220 goals
While many modern fans will know Jupp Heynckes for his managerial exploits, he was a serious player in his prime, and he boasts the third-best goalscoring ratio on the list.
He netted an impressive 195 goals in 283 games for Borussia Monchengladbach during a golden era for the club.
That resulted in four league titles, a German Cup, a UEFA Cup triumph as well as reaching the final of the European Cup. He then helped West Germany secure the World Cup and European Championships, and he was a two-time league top scorer as well.
3. Klaus Fischer – 268 goals
Having spent his whole career scoring goals in Germany for four clubs, Klaus Fischer is certainly a revered legend in his home country.
While his total trophy haul consisted of just two German Cups won at two different clubs (Schalke and FC Koln), he had an exceptional record, particularly at Schalke, with 182 strikes in 295 games, which remains a club record.
One thing he was known for across his career was his ability to score bicycle kick goals. His most famous goal came in a 4-1 victory against Switzerland in a 1977 international match when his goal was selected as the Goal of the Year by German television viewers.
Later, it was voted Goal of the Decade and Goal of the Century. Additionally, he scored a famous bicycle kick equalizer in extra time during the 1982 World Cup semi-final against France, a match that West Germany eventually won in a penalty shootout before they lost in the final.
2. Robert Lewandowski – 312 goals
In terms of the modern greats, Robert Lewandowski stands tall as one of the very best. One of the best poachers we’ve ever seen, the Polish forward had quick feet, good technical fundamentals and brilliant positioning and physicality.
His ratio of 0.81 goals per game is incredible and it somehow still falls short to the great Gerd Muller. However, he was a 10-time league champion and won 25 trophies across spells at Bayern and Dortmund.
A seven-time Bundesliga top scorer, he dominated the goalscoring charts in Europe outside of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo and the Best FIFA Men’s Player award in 2020 and 2021 whilst at Bayern and was robbed of a Ballon d’Or during those years as it was cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He holds many records, but his 41 goals in a single campaign remains the highest in league history in Germany.
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1. Gerd Muller – 365 goals
While Lewandowski would have gone onto break the great German’s record, Gerd Muller remains out in front as one of the greatest goal-scorers in football history, period.
Having scored all of his Bundesliga goals at Bayern, his ratio of 0.85 is simply astonishing and he was the player who originally broke all the records across his career, which spanned from 1965 to 1979 in Germany.
A truly special player, he is one of nine players to have won the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA Champions League and the Ballon d’Or.
He was also a Ballon d’Or winner and a seven-time Bundesliga top scorer as well as possessing an exceptional record of scoring more goals than he played games for West Germany. “Der Bomber” is one of the true greats.