Top 40 Best Strikers In The World 2025 Ranking
This ranking spotlights the top 40 best strikers in the world 2025, with focus on their goal-scoring prowess, assists, and overall impact in the 2024/25 season. It considers performances across top leagues like the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1, as well as continental competitions.
The criteria for inclusion focused on players primarily recognized as strikers or forwards with significant goal-scoring responsibilities. Factors considered included:
- Goals and Assists: Total goal contributions across all competitions.
- Goals per Game: Efficiency in converting opportunities.
- Impact in Big Matches: Performances in key games, such as Champions League knockouts or derbies.
- League Competitiveness: Performance in top-five European leagues (Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1) or other notable leagues.
- Versatility and Work Rate: Contributions beyond scoring, such as pressing, link-up play, and tactical adaptability.
- Form and Consistency: Trends over the 2024/25 season and prior seasons, ensuring relevance to 2025.
Top 40 Best Strikers in the World 2025
40. Lucas Stassin
Age: 20 | Saint-Étienne
With 14 goals and 8 assists, the 20-year-old Stassin has become one of Ligue 2’s brightest lights. He’s quick to read space, technically smooth, and unafraid to shoulder responsibility in big moments.
39. Lorenzo Lucca
Age: 24 | Udinese
Lucca’s 14-goal campaign in Serie A adds to Italy’s growing No. 9 renaissance narrative. At 6’7″, he’s a constant aerial menace and surprisingly nimble in the buildup.
38. Nick Woltemade
Age: 23 | Stuttgart
Woltemade impressed with 12 Bundesliga goals and 5 more in the DFB-Pokal, which played a key role in Stuttgart’s attacking resurgence. Tall, mobile, and confident with the ball at his feet, he’s a rising German forward to monitor closely in the years ahead.
37. Javi Puado
Age: 27 | Espanyol
Puado, often overlooked in La Liga circles, delivered 12 goals and 4 assists. He showed positional utility and a strong work ethic. Whether operating as a second striker or drifting wide, he connected play and threatened goal with minimal touches, an invaluable trait in modern tactical systems.
36. Artem Dovbyk
Age: 27 | Roma
Dovbyk is quietly adapting to Serie A with 17 goals and 4 assists. He offers Roma sharp instincts and relentless pressing. His profile is perfect for Italy: direct, robust, and composed under pressure. Regarding underrated efficiency, he’s one of Europe’s most consistent finishers this season.
35. Liam Delap
Age: 23 | Chelsea
Chelsea’s investment in youth continues with Delap, who scored 12 goals and 3 assists for Ipswich Town in the just-concluded season. Strong, aggressive, and hungry in the box, he offers raw talent with real upside. Delap isn’t quite the elite striker yet, but the potential is clear, and the path is laid.
34. Ludovic Ajorque
Age: 31 | Brest
The towering Frenchman netted 14 goals and 6 assists, spearheading Brest’s forward line with physicality and surprising finesse. He’s not flashy, but Ajorque plays the game with brilliance, incorporating old-school target-man traits with a new-school tactical brain.
33. Emanuel Emegha
Age: 22 | Strasbourg
Emegha, at just 22, tallied 14 goals and 3 assists in a transitional Strasbourg side. His lanky frame disguises swift acceleration and technical elegance while his decision-making matures. It’s a long-term project with all the hallmarks of a future top striker.
32. Arnaud Kalimuendo
Age: 23 | Rennes
Kalimuendo continues to blossom in Ligue 1, registering 18 goals and growing into his role as a central threat. Agile, explosive, and instinctive in the box, he’s one of France’s most exciting young No. 9s. If he continues this upward trajectory, the debate over the best striker in football in a few years could include his name.
31. Ermedin Demirović
Age: 27 | Stuttgart
An integral figure in Stuttgart’s surprise Bundesliga campaign, Demirović hit 17 goals and 6 assists, pulling up with strong hold-up play and intelligent final-third movement. While not a global superstar, his well-rounded game and consistent output earn him quiet inclusion on this list by merit.
30. Alexandre Lacazette
Age: 34 | Lyon
Lacazette’s twilight years remain productive with 19 goals and 3 assists in a Lyon side searching for identity. He still drops deep, combines play, and strikes accurately in tight spaces. His experience and tactical nous continue to make him one of Ligue 1’s most valuable veteran forwards and a lingering force.
29. Tim Kleindienst
Age: 29 | Borussia Mönchengladbach
Kleindienst, a classic Bundesliga grinder, offered 16 goals and 10 assists through smart positioning and relentless work rate. He’s not flashy, but his footballing IQ and understanding of timing made him a key figure in Gladbach’s attacking system. Kleindienst is a throwback striker delivering modern output.
28. Mason Greenwood
Age: 23 | Marseille
After a turbulent period, Greenwood found stability and productivity at Marseille: 22 goals and 6 assists. Playing off the shoulder and cutting in from wide channels, his finishing and technique returned to sharp levels. His reinvention in Ligue 1 adds a new layer to the ever-deepening list of top strikers in football.
27. Jonathan Burkardt
Age: 24 | Mainz
A fresh spark in the Bundesliga, Burkardt hit 19 goals with fearless energy and intelligent movement. His explosive runs between defenders and a keen eye for space belie his age. As a young forward shaping his identity, Burkardt is a name to track closely in future conversations.
26. Alexander Sørloth
Age: 29 | Atlético Madrid
Sørloth’s second wind in Spain delivered 24 goals and 2 assists as he thrived under Simeone’s pragmatic structure. He remains a direct, no-nonsense forward who is strong in duels, effective in transitions, and clinical in the box. He may never be glamorous, but in terms of efficiency, he’s one of the most consistent strikers in the world this season.
25. Ante Budimir
Age: 33 | Osasuna
Budimir’s 24-goal campaign for Osasuna flew under the radar, but his ruthless finishing and aerial threat made him a nightmare for La Liga defenders. His influence can’t be overstated as a traditional No. 9 leading a mid-table side’s charge. Few embody the classic striker’s craft better than Budimir right now.
24. Nicolas Jackson
Age: 23 | Chelsea
Jackson’s season was one of growth. With 13 goals and 5 assists, he showed flashes of elite talent, blistering acceleration, brave movement, and sharp link play. While raw decision-making remains a work in progress, his ceiling is high.
23. Romelu Lukaku
Age: 32 | Napoli
Lukaku’s return to Serie A has been mixed on paper – 14 goals and 11 assists, but his role as a reference point in Napoli’s buildup was undeniable. He bullied defenders, created space for teammates, and became a creative pivot in the final third. While no longer the explosive force of old, his intelligence and experience still place him among the top strikers in world football.
22. Mika Biereth
Age: 22 | AS Monaco
The Danish striker’s rise has been rapid. His 27 goals and 8 assists are proof of his ice-cold composure in front of goal. Biereth operates like a pure poacher, but his pressing and off-ball intelligence hint at a forward tailor-made for the modern game. He is a dark horse among the best strikers in football and Monaco’s next major export.
21. Chris Wood
Age: 33 | Nottingham Forest
Wood may not grab headlines, but his 20 goals and 3 assists were critical to Forest’s Premier League survival. A classic target man with brutal efficiency in the box, he dominated aerially and gave Forest a platform to counter. His consistency, especially in big moments, earned him a deserved place among the top strikers in the world for pure impact.
20. Jean-Philippe Mateta
Age: 27 | Crystal Palace
Mateta has become a cult hero under Oliver Glasner, scoring 17 goals and adding 4 assists in a season defined by late winners and emphatic finishes. His sharp positioning and chemistry with Palace’s wide players have made him a fan favorite and one of the Premier League’s surprise elite forwards in 2025.
19. Moise Kean
Age: 25 | Fiorentina
Kean has found redemption in Florence, scoring 25 goals and finally fulfilling the promise he showed as a teenager. Rejuvenated in a system that plays to his strengths, quick combinations, early shots, and aggressive pressing, he’s become a reliable goal outlet. Not long ago written off, Kean is firmly back among the best strikers in football.
18. Jonathan David
Age: 25 | Lille
Lille’s ever-reliable forward produced 25 goals and 12 assists, once again coming through with his ice-cold penalty-taking and intelligent runs in the final third. While not always flashy, David is ruthlessly efficient. He’s the kind of striker every coach wants, and his consistency earns him a place on this list.
17. Hugo Ekitike
Age: 22 | Eintracht Frankfurt
Ekitike delivered a breakthrough campaign with 22 goals and 12 assists, merging explosive pace with clever link-up play. His flair and ability to isolate defenders in one-on-ones make him one of the Bundesliga’s most exciting forwards. You just need to watch the lad play. Still only 22, Ekitike is knocking on the door of the best strikers in the world tier.
16. Patrik Schick
Age: 29 | Bayer Leverkusen
Schick’s resurgence under Xabi Alonso saw him net 27 goals, many with his trademark towering headers and first-time finishes. His aerial dominance and clinical left foot make him a perfect fit for Leverkusen’s fluid attacking patterns. When fit and firing, he’s undeniably one of the top strikers in football.
15. Benjamin Šeško
Age: 22 | RB Leipzig
Šeško is more than a rising star now; he is more risen than not, already delivering with 21 goals and 6 assists. He’s developing into a modern target man with elite athleticism and the ability to stretch defenses vertically. At 22, his potential is frightening. It’s only a matter of time before he climbs into the conversation of the finest.
14. Serhou Guirassy
Age: 29 | Borussia Dortmund
Guirassy’s move to Dortmund unlocked another level: 34 goals in 45 games and a jaw-dropping hat-trick against Barcelona in the Champions League. Physically imposing and deadly inside the area, his late blooming has surprised many, but the numbers don’t lie – he belongs among the top strikers in the world.
13. Ollie Watkins
Age: 29 | Aston Villa
With 17 goals and 14 assists, Watkins has become the engine behind Aston Villa’s European surge. What stands out is his all-around game, pressing from the front, linking play, consistent chance creation, and selflessness on the ball. Not just a poacher but a complete forward, Watkins is making a strong case to be considered among the best strikers today.
12. Mateo Retegui
Age: 26 | Atalanta
Retegui’s clinical instincts earned him the Capocannoniere title with 28 goals and 9 assists in Serie A. His movement inside the box is razor-sharp, and his timing on the shoulder of defenders makes him a nightmare to track. As a traditional No. 9 thriving in a modern setup, he’s become a household name among the best strikers in the world.
11. Omar Marmoush
Age: 26 | Manchester City
Signed under the radar, Marmoush continued his banging form at Manchester City with 8 goals and 2 assists, including a stunning hat-trick against Newcastle that earned high praise from Pep Guardiola. Cumulatively, the young Egyptian bagged 28 goals and 17 assists in the 2024/2025 football season. Direct and adaptable in multiple attacking roles, Marmoush is establishing himself as a rare commodity.
Top 10 Best Strikers in World Football 2025
10. Marcus Thuram
Age: 27 | Inter Milan
Thuram has made his mark beyond being Lautaro’s partner. With 18 goals and 9 assists, he’s added verticality and flair to Inter’s attacking play. His ability to play wide, link centrally, and press from the front has made him indispensable. Though not a pure goal machine, his all-around value makes him one of the world’s most important and underrated strikers in 2025.
9. Victor Osimhen
Age: 26 | Galatasaray
Osimhen’s surprise switch to Galatasaray didn’t derail his form; instead, it magnified it. 37 goals and 8 assists in one season underline his devastating power and elite movement. He continues to outmuscle defenders, time his runs perfectly, and lead the line like a battering ram with finesse.
8. Julián Álvarez
Age: 25 | Atlético Madrid
A move from Manchester City to Atlético has unlocked Álvarez’s central striker instincts. With 29 goals and 7 assists, he’s become the tactical heartbeat of Simeone’s more fluid attack, pressing, combining, and finishing with ruthless economy. Man is versatile and has translated into consistent productivity. He may not always be in the spotlight, but Álvarez is unquestionably among the best strikers in football right now. Is his departure from Manchester City something Pep regrets? We may never know.
7. Lautaro Martínez
Age: 27 | Inter Milan
Lautaro combines leadership with lethal output. His 22 goals and 7 assists, plus a commanding role in Inter’s title charge, show his evolution into a complete forward. The Argentine frontman thrives on intelligent support behind him—the kind of service only the best attacking midfielders in the world can consistently deliver. A striker with tactical intelligence and fire, Lautaro is now entrenched in the elite tier of top strikers in world football.
6. Viktor Gyökeres
Age: 27 | Sporting CP
The numbers are absurd: 54 goals and 13 assists across all competitions. Gyökeres has been unstoppable in Portugal, physically dominant, technically brilliant, sharp, and mentally relentless. While some may downplay his league, his performances in Europe have silenced doubters.
5. Alexander Isak
Age: 25 | Newcastle United
Isak’s breakout as a top-level Premier League forward came with 27 goals and 6 assists, showing his intelligent movement, silky footwork, and cool-as-a-cucumber finishing. He’s more than a poacher. Isak drops into space, links play and create mismatches. With Newcastle increasingly built around him, he’s becoming one of the most elegant and dangerous forwards in Europe, rising fast among the top strikers in the world.
4. Robert Lewandowski
Age: 36 | Barcelona
At 36, Lewandowski shows no signs of fading. His 42-goal season, boosted by a strong Champions League campaign, proves his finishing and movement remain elite. While his overall involvement has slightly waned, Lewandowski’s ability to arrive in key spaces at just the right moment keeps him among the best strikers in football. His longevity at the top is nothing short of legendary.
3. Erling Haaland
Age: 24 | Manchester City
Injuries may have slowed him slightly, but 31 goals in a season where he missed chunks of play is proof of Haaland’s freakish consistency. His presence alone bends defensive structures. Haaland, a destroyer of low blocks and an elite off-ball mover, remains Manchester City’s most lethal weapon.
2. Kylian Mbappé
Age: 26 | Real Madrid
Mbappé’s arrival at Real Madrid came with immense pressure, and he exceeded it. 43 goals, 5 assists, and multiple hat-tricks in high-stakes matches secured him La Liga’s top scorer and further elevated his already generational status. The lad functions from the wing or centrally, and his pace, precision, and positional intelligence are unplayable in form. For those asking who the best striker in the world is, Mbappé’s name is always near, if not at, the very top.
1. Harry Kane
Age: 31 | Bayern Munich
Kane’s first full season in Germany was a masterclass in adaptation and dominance. With 38 goals and 13 assists, he won the Bundesliga Golden Boot and reasserted himself as one of the most complete strikers of the modern era. Kane’s hold-up play and dead-eyed finishing made him Bayern’s focal point and a consistent match-winner in domestic and European competitions. Statistically and tactically, Harry Kane is arguably the best striker in football right now – equal parts creator and finisher.
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• Top 30 Best Attacking Midfielders in the World 2025
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