Football has seen great strikers come and go, from the ones that are good with their feet to the ones that can use both legs, the ones that are more comfortable with their heads, the fox in the box, and many others.
Strikers who help the team in the midfield and defense; from generation to generation, football has never lacked competent strikers who know how to do their jobs.
Ronaldo De Lima remains iconic. And although Marco Van Basten, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Bobby Charlton, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gerd Müller, Robin Van Persie, Samuel Eto’o, and Didier Drogba have all ended their career, football has remained a gift that keeps giving as more competent and formidable yet young strikers continue to emerge.
Therefore, we take a look at the top 10 best strikers in world football in 2024.
Top 10 Best Strikers In The World (2024)
Here are the top 10 best soccer strikers in world today based on their form, quality, and performances.
1. Erling Haaland
We start off with the man who has been dominating teams and defenses since he grew into the limelight at the 2019 FIFA under-20 World Cup, where he scored 9 goals in a single game for the Norwegian under-20 team.
Since then, Haaland has gone on to break records in Austria with RB Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund in Germany, and now Manchester City in the Premier League, winning everything with the exception of the Carabao Cup in just his first season.
With 56 goals in 59 games in all competitions, 36 of them came in the Premier League, where he amassed 35 games in his first season.
It wasn’t a surprise that Haaland was named the PFA Player of the Year and, subsequently, won the UEFA Best Player of the Year award.
The Norwegian number 9 is definitely one of the top strikers in the world right now, as he possesses all the attributes of a complete centre-forward.
He is brilliant at holding up okay and combining with others. He is fast, makes clever movements to run in behind, and is a lethal finisher. Haaland can also finish with both feet and his head.
So far in the current 2023/24 English Premier League season, Erling Haaland has scored 17 goals in 22 games.
On February 20, 2024, Erling Haaland scored the only goal in a match against Brentford, becoming alongside Harry Kane one of the few players to have scored against every Premier League team they have played against.
In City’s recent FA Cup game against Luton Town, Haaland notched 5 goals, marking the second time he hit 5 in a game for the club and becoming the first Man City player to do so twice.
2. Harry Kane
At the age of 30, it was either now or never for Harry Kane to move as he continues to search for silverware.
Everyone agrees that Kane needs to win titles after conquering every possible goal-scoring record in the Premier League.
Kane has now moved on from Tottenham Hotspur to Bayern Munich, where he is settling down to life in the Bundesliga.
The 30-year-old is the record scorer for Tottenham Hotspurs and the record scorer for the England national team.
In fact, there are so many who believe they should have stayed at North London so that he could beat the all-time goal-scoring record in the Premier League held by Newcastle legend Alan Shearer.
Kane needs 48 goals to beat Shearer’s record and a return to the Premier League, after trophy hunting in the Bundesliga, to break that record is possible.
With 20 goal contributions and 15 goals in his first 10 games, he broke three Bundesliga records, and matched Gerd Müller’s record from the 1968/69 Bundesliga season.
This season he has also become the top scoring Englishman in a single season in Bundesliga history, surpassing the likes of Kevin Keegan and Jadon Sancho.
With 31 goals in 31 games so far this season, the Englishman is undoubtedly one of the best strikers in the world.
3. Kylian Mbappé
Kylian Mbappe is a beast of a player; he started his career as a winger and has grown to be comfortable not only on the wings but also as a centre-forward.
Except for the UEFA Champions League missing from his trophy cabinet, the player has won almost all. Meanwhile, he is not the tallest, but he doesn’t even need the height to score goals.
Mbappe’s pace helps him beat defenders, his dribbling skills take him out of tough situations, and his finishing is top-notch, even from outside the box.
All these he has shown since his teenage years, and he even scored in the 2018 FIFA World Cup final to help France win the World Cup against Croatia.
Four years later, he has matured to be a big game player with a hat-trick in another World Cup final but losing to Argentina at the 2022 edition.
With four goals, Mbappé became the leading scorer in World Cup finals, and his hat-trick was the first in a men’s final since Geoff Hurst achieved the feat for England in 1966.
After a toxic summer transfer window, he’s stayed back at PSG, but he could be joining Real Madrid soonest anyway.
The Frenchman makes intelligent movements and has remarkable composure in front of goal. He is extremely fast, skillful, and can create chances, which makes him a truly world-class centre-forward.
So far in the 2023/24 season, Kylian Mbappé had scored 25 goals in 29 matches.
4. Robert Lewandowski
Alongside Harry Kane and Karim Benzema, Robert Lewandowski is one of the few remaining old generation of strikers on this list, and at nearly 35, the Poland striker is still waxing strong for Barcelona.
Last season, he helped them to the La Liga title, adding another major league title to the Bundesliga he dominated with Bayern Munich.
Their adventure in the UEFA Champions League and subsequently to the Europa League was not as successful as the La Liga. However, Robert Lewandowski still racked 23 goals and seven assists in the La Liga alone last season.
Lewandowski is a complete striker and a pure number 9. He is technically gifted; able to link with his attacking midfielders and hold up play.
He is also capable of taking on defenders, making runs in behind, latching onto balls over the top, and scoring a variety of goals with both feet and his head.
Barcelona have been somewhat poor this season, but Lewandowski’s 14 goals in 30 games is not a poor return for the veteran striker
5. Victor Osimhen
Victor Osimhen shares some playing similarities to Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto’o, who both ruled the major European football leagues despite being Africans.
Victor Osimhen has already proven he is a goalscorer and a consistent one at that, even though it took him a while to mature into professional football after winning the 2015 FIFA Under-17 World Cup and Golden Boot in Chile.
He struggled in Wolfsburg but quickly picked up in Belgium before moving to Lille in the French Ligue 1.
Nonetheless at Napoli, he won the Young Player of the Season in the Serie A and the Golden Boot to help Napoli win their first title in decades. He ended the campaign with 26 goals in 37 games.
Osimhen is the highest-scoring African in the Serie A. He also broke Samuel Eto’o’s record for the most goals by an African player in a single Italian championship season.
At the end of the season, he finished as the top scorer with 26 goals, making him the first African to achieve this feat.
In the 2023/24 Serie A season, he has already scored 11 goals and 3 assists in 15 matches for Napoli.
He was impressive as Nigeria reached the final of the 2023 AFCON.
Osimhen is a lethal right-footed center-forward who possesses a strong physical presence, athleticism, strength, directness, ability to make runs into space, an eye for goal, and ability to link up with his teammates.
He is skilled in holding up the ball, and his good holdup play is attributed to his towering height.
6. Lautaro Martínez
Lautaro Martinez holds the record as the first player to be ever sent off using the VAR at the 2017 FIFA under-20 World Cup, but fortunately, the Inter Milan striker has grown beyond and built a better profile.
Most of it has come at Inter Milan, where the 26-year-old striker has made over 200 appearances for Inter Milan and has scored over 130 goals for them.
However, the Argentine has cemented his status as one of best strikers in the world this season.
Lautaro has excelled in Simone Inzaghi’s 3-5-2 formation and formed a deadly partnership upfront with Marcus Thuram, which has reaped 26 goals in re matches so far this season.
On September 30, 2023, Lautaro Martínez made history in Serie A by becoming the first substitute to score four goals in a match. He achieved this feat after coming on for Alexis Sánchez in the 55th minute during Inter’s resounding 4–0 victory over Salernitana.
Although Lautaro is not exceptionally tall, he possesses surprising physical strength and aerial ability.
He is also skilled in link-up play, defensive contributions, and has the ability to drop deep off the ball to either press opponents or create space for his teammates.
He is a hard-working and creative player who can score goals as well as assist them, making him a versatile player who can play as a second striker or in his usual role as a center-forward or striker.
7. Ollie Watkins
Ollie Watkins is surprising a striker to reckon with in 2024 despite playing for Aston Villa. Since the arrival of Unai Emery at Villa, Watkins has been a joy to watch
In the 2023/24 Premier League season, he has notched 16 goals and provided 10 assists in 27 games.
However, what makes Ollie Watkins the best striker in the world is not only his scoring abilities but his playmaking capabilities.
The Englishman is an excellent finisher, dribbler, penalty-taker, and header. He has great movement off the ball and works tirelessly to pressure opposition goalkeepers to make mistakes.
8. Dušan Vlahović
The Serbian striker Dušan Vlahović remains one striker that is on the ascendency after joining Juventus from Fiorentina in 2022.
In that period, he scored 25 goals and was heavily linked with a possible move away from Turin, which never materialized.
For his country, he’s already scored 13 goals in 25 games. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Vlahovic.
Vlahović is a well-rounded attacker, recognized for his physical prowess, technical skills, and scoring instincts.
He is particularly adept at collecting the ball in central zones or the inside right or left channels and retaining possession.
What’s more? He can also score free-kicks.
Despite playing for a struggling Juventus, Dušan Vlahović has better 15 goals in 23 Serie A games.
9. Serhou Guirassy
Serhou Guirassy is probably one of the most underrated strikers in today’s game, and it may likely bother on his nationality or maybe not.
The 27-year-old French-born Guinean has showed his goal scoring instinct for VfB Stuttgart in the German Bundesliga this season.
In the 2023/24 campaign, he has found the back of the net 20 times and assisted one in just 15 games.
In fact, at the start of the 2023/24 Bundesliga season, Serhou Guirassy had an impressive start, scoring ten goals in the first five matches, matching a record held by Robert Lewandowski.
Guirassy’s performance included a hat-trick against Mainz. He further broke a record by scoring 13 goals in the first seven matches, highlighted by a 15-minute hat-trick against Wolfsburg, surpassing Lewandowski’s previous record of 11 goals.
Guirassy is a skilled attacker who is known for his pace, ability to exploit gaps in the defense, and proficiency in playing short passes and collaborating with his teammates.
He is also effective on counterattacks and is recognized for his tactical intelligence, defensive work-rate, and eagerness to press opposing players off the ball.
10. Darwin Nuñez
Darwin Nunez is stepping up for Liverpool in the Premier League; the Uruguayan could only score nine times in 29 league games in his first Premier League season.
However, there is no about his quality and the fact that he is one of the best strikers in the world.
Núñez is a striker who can disrupt the opposing team’s defense with his dynamic range of mobility. He is capable of carrying out counterattacks, making incisive movements around the box, and striking the ball with explosive force.
His decisiveness and strength were shown as he dragged a ten-man Liverpool to a 2-1 over Newcastle on Premier League matchday 3.
This season, he has better 10 goals in 25 EPL games.
What is the role of a striker?
The primary role of a striker in football is to score goals and create goalscoring opportunities.
Strikers are positioned nearest to the opposing team’s goal. Strikers or centre-forwards usually take the most shots on goal and find themselves in goalscoring positions. The best strikers in the world have distinguished themselves in this role.
However, the position of a striker has evolved over the years. Modern strikers are now expected not only to score goals but also to do many other things like linking up play, providing assists, holding up play, pressing defenders, dropping deep, etc.
Although there still exists many strikers who are majorly concerned about putting the ball in the back of the net, most forwards can now do more than goalscoring.
