Who were the top UEFA competition scorers of 2016?
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
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One player in Europe outscored even Cristiano Ronaldo in 2016 UEFA competiton games; meet the players who made it into double figures in the last 12 months.
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The winners of UEFA's men's and women's Best Player in Europe awards for 2015/16 top the scoring rankings in UEFA competition for the last 12 months, with Ada Hegerberg narrowly outscoring Cristiano Ronaldo.
Hegerberg struck nine goals for Lyon in the UEFA Women's Champions League, while for Norway she managed seven in qualifying for UEFA Women's EURO 2017 and two in the European play-offs for Women's Olympic tournament to make 18 for the year.
Ronaldo, meanwhile, struck 17 goals: seven in the UEFA Champions League, three in the victorious UEFA EURO 2016 campaign and has seven in European Qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Robert Lewandowski, third overall, matches him on all but EURO.
UEFA EURO 2016 top scorer Antoine Griezmann is level with Lionel Messi on 13, the Barcelona man's international goals for Argentina not counting towards his UEFA total. Athletic Club's Aritz Aduriz, meanwhile, ranks highly as last season's UEFA Europa League top scorer, and the scorer of five goals in a single group game this season.
Five in one match is impressive, but 16-year-old Joëlle Smits went two better to make her way on to the leaderboard, scoring seven for the Netherlands in an 11-0 UEFA Women's European Under-17 Championship qualifying win against Bulgaria. Her 12 goals came in just five games, spread over 294 minutes – a phenomenal strike-rate of a goal every 24.5 minutes!
Who makes your Team of the Year?
Finally, a mention for Jean-Kévin Augustin; a UEFA.com weekly wonderkid in the summer of 2015. The 19-year-old made the step up from France's U19s to the U21s this year, and has represented Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Youth League and the UEFA Champions League, making his competition debut as an added-time substitute. Keep it up.
Top scorers in UEFA competitions in 2016
18: Ada Hegerberg (Lyon and Norway) – 9 UWCL, 7 WEURO, 2 WOLT
17: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid and Portugal) – 7 UCL, 3 EURO, 7 EQ
15: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern and Poland) – 7 UCL, 1 EURO, 7 EQ
14: Zsanett Jakabfi (Wolfsburg and Hungary) – 10 UWCL , 4 WEURO
13: Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid and France) – 6 UCL , 6 EURO, 1 EQ
13: Lionel Messi (Barcelona) – 13 UCL
12: Joëlle Smits (Netherlands) – 12 WU17
11: Eugénie Le Sommer (Lyon and France) – 8 UWCL, 3 WEURO
11: Aritz Aduriz (Athletic Club and Spain) – 10 UEL, 1 EQ
11: Lucia García (Spain) – 11 WU17
10: Jean-Kévin Augustin (Paris and France) – 2 UYL, 2 U21, 6 U19
10: Veronica Boquete (Paris and Spain) – 2 UWCL , 8 WEURO
10: José Gomes (Benfica and Portugal) – 1 UYL, 9 U17
Key
EQ: European Qualifiers for 2018 FIFA World Cup
EURO: UEFA EURO 2016
UCL: UEFA Champions League
UEL: UEFA Europa League
UWCL: UEFA Women's Champions League
UYL: UEFA Youth League
U21: UEFA European Under-21 Championship
U19: UEFA European Under-19 Championship
U17: UEFA European Under-17 Championship
WEURO: Qualifiers for UEFA Women's EURO 2017
WOLT: European play-offs for Women's Olympic tournament
WU17: UEFA Women's European Under-17 Championship