The 10 players with the most headed goals of the 21st Century: Ronaldo, Kane…
Former Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester United stars are among the 10 players with the most headed goals in the 21st Century.
Scoring goals is the aim of the game and the players on this list have been particularly prolific when it comes to scoring goals with their head.
We’ve taken a closer look at the record books and have found the 10 players with the most headed goals in the 21st Century.
10. Aritz Aduriz – 63
The former Athletic Bilbao forward was an absolute menace when the ball was hung up in the air. Impressively, around 22% of his total career goals were scored with his head.
He also absolutely loved scoring in the Europa League.
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9. Olivier Giroud – 65
There aren’t many players in modern history who have a better goal catalogue than Giroud.
Whether he’s scoring audacious scorpion kicks or bullet headers, he usually finds a way to make his goals look as graceful as possible.
England fans won’t need reminding that it was a Giroud header that ultimately knocked them out of the 2022 World Cup.
8. Edin Dzeko – 66
Still going strong for Fenerbahce today, we wouldn’t be surprised if Dzeko climbs a few places on this list by the time he retires.
Although, of the 15 goals he’s scored so far this season, only one of them has been a header. He’ll need to up those numbers if he wants to rise up the ranks on this list.
=6. Harry Kane – 68
Capable of scoring almost any type of goal, Kane is one of the most complete forwards who is still playing today.
Whether he’s dropping deep, playing as a poacher or roaming between defenders, he usually finds a way to score.
The vast majority of his headed goals were scored for Tottenham and England, although he’s had a decent aerial record since joining Bayern Munich too.
Of the 67 goals he’s scored while playing in Germany, 12 of them have been scored with his head.
=6. Bas Dost – 68
The 35-year-old has been without a club since his contract with NEC Nijmegen expired last summer.
Still capable of finding the back of the net, especially with his head, we’re interested to see where the former Wolfsburg striker ends up next.
Of his total number of career goals, around 25% of them were scored with his head. That’s some record.
5. Radamel Falcao – 71
Standing at just 5ft 10in, the Colombian forward is by far the smallest player on this list, but that hasn’t stopped him from scoring plenty of headers.
Capable of leaping over most defenders, Falcao has a spring in his step and the ability to perfectly time his leaps into the air.
During his days at Atletico Madrid in particular, it felt as if he was scoring a header every single week.
Still playing today aged 38 for Millionaires in Colombia, he’s still got the chance to add a few more headed goals to his collection before he retires.
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4. Fernando Llorente – 77
Opposition fans would always have their hearts in their mouths when the ball was swung in and Llorente was in the box.
The towering Spaniard had a knack for scoring big goals – most of them being headers. Of his 207 career goals, 36.6% of them were scored with his head.
3. Robert Lewandowski – 91
Since joining Barcelona, Lewandowski has scored all sorts of goals with 10 of them being headers.
The 36-year-old undoubtedly ranks among the greatest strikers of all time and he’ll surely end his career with well over 100 headed goals to his name.
Still going strong at the top level today, Lewandowski still has plenty left in the tank.
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2. Luuk de Jong – 105
Over the last season and a half, De Jong has scored 18 headed goals and he’s not showing many signs of slowing down.
The 34-year-old has been in tremendous form since re-joining PSV in 2022 and he’s not a million miles away from the top spot on this list. Watch this space.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo – 120
Who else?
Given he’s scored more goals than any other player in the 21st Century, it won’t come as much of a surprise to learn that Ronaldo has also scored the most headed goals.
Of his total number of career goals, around 13% of them have been scored with his head.