Serie A’s all-time top 10 goalscorers: Batistuta, Totti, Del Piero…

Serie A has always had a certain class and flair that other leagues simply cannot match and they have produced some incredible teams and incredible players across the years.

The Italian top flight remains one of Europe’s top five leagues and holds a level of prestige that harks back to a time when they dominated football. The great clubs of Milan, Juventus and Napoli hold such a high status and many legendary figures have passed through the top flight in Italy.

Whereas Italy is often associated with defences, there have been some incredible goal-scorers to come from the league and they certainly deserve more praise.

With that in mind, we’ve decided to chart the top 10 goalscorers from Serie A’s rich history, and it is a list that contains some true football legends.

10. Gabriel Batistuta – 183

What better place to start than with one of the great South American strikers, Gabriel Batistuta. Netting the majority of his goals for Fiorentina, he remains the club record holder for goals, and he helped bring them back into the top-flight after relegation, eventually helping to lead them to a Coppa Italia and Italian Super Cup triumph after reinstating them in the top flight. Plus, his goals-to-game ratio was only bettered by one other in the top 10 list.

He later made a big-money move to Roma, where he would later win the league title, and he also the top scorer in the 1994-95 season. Blessed with an incredible ability to score goals from distance, thanks to his ball-striking qualities, he was a deadly finisher who needed half a chance to make opponents pa,y and he went on to have a stellar international career with Argentina – becoming their all-time top scorer before Lionel Messi overtook him.

9. Alberto Gilardino/Alessandro Del Piero/Giuseppe Signori – 188

With 188 goals each, the trio of Alberto Gilardino, Alessandro Del Piero and Giuseppe Signori were all tied but all three led successful campaigns. Gilardino scored for eight sides in his time in Serie A with the majority coming for Fiorentina (52) and Parma (50) and had the worst ratio of the three (0.37).

Signori was best known for his time at Lazio and Bologna where he netted most of his goals and he also managed to be the top scorer in the division on three occasions. His ratio of 0.55 per game is one of the best in the top 10 list and he was known for being a very clinical and clever forward.

Lastly, there’s the legendary figure of Del Piero. A Juventus legend, he scored in every competition he ever played in and was an Italian legend for the form he displayed for his country. He was a two-time Serie A footballer of the year and, despite sitting lower on this list, he is currently the second-highest all-time Italian top scorer in all competitions, with 346 goals.

8. Kurt Hamrin – 190

A Fiorentina legend, Kurt Hamrin is one of the few players on the list who wasn’t a natural striker. Playing predominately as a winger, he won trophies at both Fiorentina and AC Milan, including the European Cup and Serie A titles.

He remains Fiorentina’s highest ever goalscorer, and he was also a six-time feature in the Serie A Team of the Year and was known for his performances that helped Sweden reach an unlikely World Cup final in 1958, only to be dominated by a 17-year-old Pele.

7.  Ciro Immobile – 201

Boasting the second-best goal ratio on the top 10 list, Ciro Immobile was a lethal and consistent scorer in Serie A and was devastating at his best. His record for Lazio of 169 goals in 270 games was impressive and he was a four-time winner of the top scorer award in Italy.

While he never won the league title, Lazio was not quite strong enough to compete with the very best sides in the league and he walked away from the club with an Italian Cup and two Italian Super Cups before venturing to Besiktas, where he has a decent record. He was known for his poaching ability, clever movement and curling strikes and reached plenty of scoring milestones during his prime days.

6. Roberto Baggio – 205

One of the greats, Roberto Baggio was a Ballon d’Or winner and one of the best to feature in Serie A history. Playing just off the striker, when given the freedom, he was lethal and dangerous as he elegantly glided past players before scoring.

He won two league titles, one each with Juventus and AC Milan, while also capturing the Coppa Italia and UEFA Cup. With Italy, he helped lead them to a third-place finish in the 1990 World Cup before he was later associated with missing the vital spot-kick in the 1994 final against Brazil. A haunting moment for a legendary player but his legacy was already secured for the brilliance he showed at club and international level.

5. Antonio Di Natale – 209

A cult hero, Antonio Di Natale is an Udinese legend. Di Natale’s skill, leadership and ability to both score and create helped to elevate his club and he later became their captain after showcasing his leadership qualities. While he went trophyless at club level, he was a two-time top scorer in Serie A.

He was also awarded the Italian Footballer of the Year in 2010 and was a three-time feature in the Team of the Year. For anyone who has seen his goals, they will know that Di Natale was gifted with quick feet, a direct style of play and the ability to score from all angles at any moment, and it was his dedication, leadership and ability to pull off the spectacular that endeared him to the football fans in Italy.

4.  José Altafini/Giuseppe Meazza – 216

Two players tie in fourth place with 216 as Jose Altafini and Giuseppe Meazza enter the list. Both were featured for Juventus and AC Milan, but Meazza boasted the better goal ratio with 0.59. His goals from 1929 to 1947 but the majority of his strikes came for Inter with 197 in 303 games. He won three league titles and fired Italy to back-to-back World Cups in 1934 and 1938 and was a three-time top scorer in Serie A.

Altafini netted 191 of his goals for AC Milan and Napoli and was a four-time league champion (he won two titles with each of those two clubs) and European Cup winner with Milan. He was the top scorer in Serie A on one occasion and was part of Brazil’s 1958 World Cup winning squad and remains a legend in the annals of this league’s history.

3. Gunnar Nordahl – 225

With the best ratio on the list of 0.77 goals per game, Gunnar Nordahl is a true Serie A goalscoring legend. While he spent just nine years in the league, he was a sensation for AC Milan after scoring plenty of goals in his native Sweden. He was that good in Italy that he earned not one, not two – but three nicknames. Those were “The Prime Gunner”, “The Fireman”, and “The Bison”, and he truly lived up to those names.

His 225 goals came in just 291 games, and he fired Milan to two league titles and two Latin Cups and he was the top scorer in Italy five out of six seasons in a row, stretching from 1949 to 1955. That means he holds the record for the most top scorer awards, he is Milan’s all-time top scorer and has the most hat-tricks in Serie A history with 17. That is some record.

2. Francesco Totti – 250

There are simply no true examples of a one-club man in the modern game, but Francesco Totti came from a different era. Deployed more as an attacking midfielder than an out-and-out striker, he sits impressively on this list with 250 goals, and he managed to win one Serie A title, two Coppa Italia titles, and two Supercoppa Italiana titles.

A true leader on the pitch, he holds the record for being the youngest club captain in the history of Serie A as well as having the most goals scored in Serie A while playing for a single club. He was a five-time Italian Footballer of the Year in Serie A and was inducted into the Italian Hall of Fame in 2018 for his career achievements. He scored all manner of goals and did so with an air of arrogance and class that most players simply do not possess anymore. 

READ: 9 elite footballers that aged like a fine wine: Pepe, Totti, Xabi Alonso…

1. Silvio Piola – 274

Topping the list is the iconic Silvio Piola. His first goal came in 1929, and his last came 25 years later. His best spell came at Lazio, where he netted 143 goals in 227 games. He is a highly respected figure for the history he created, record he set and the sheer amount of goals he managed across his career.

His 566 appearances place him fourth on the all-time list, and Piola is the only player to have the honour of being the all-time Serie A top scorer of three different teams (Pro Vercelli, Lazio and Novara). Interestingly, he never won the league title, but he was a World Cup winner with Italy in 1934 and the league’s top scorer in two different seasons.

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TRY A QUIZ: Can you name the top scorer for every Serie A season since 1990?