Few moments in football test a player’s composure like standing 12 yards from goal with a goalkeeper, thousands of supporters and sometimes an entire season waiting on the outcome. The greatest penalty goal scorers make that pressure look almost routine.
From Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to Ronald Koeman and Roberto Baggio, some of the world’s greatest football players have turned penalty-taking into a specialised skill built on technique, confidence and remarkable consistency.
But who has actually scored the most penalties in football history? In this guide, we rank 13 of the most prolific penalty scorers ever, starting from number 13 and working all the way to the player who sits comfortably at number one.
Who Has Scored the Most Penalties in Football History?
Cristiano Ronaldo holds the record for the most penalties scored in football history. Current career databases place him at more than 180 successful penalties for club and country, comfortably ahead of every other player.
There is one important point to understand before comparing the leading goal scorers, however. Historical penalty statistics are not perfectly standardised.
Some databases include international friendlies, regional tournaments or other recognised matches, while others count only top-level competitive fixtures. Penalty shootouts are also normally excluded because shootout conversions are not recorded as individual goals in a player’s official scoring total.
For example, the International Federation of Football History & Statistics listed Ronaldo on 151 competitive penalty goals in April 2023, ahead of Romário on 114, Ronald Koeman on 113, Lionel Messi on 108, Roberto Baggio on 100 and Hugo Sánchez on 96. Since then, active players such as Ronaldo, Messi, Harry Kane and Robert Lewandowski have continued adding to their totals.
For this ranking, priority is therefore given to widely recognised top-level career figures, while newer statistics are used to update active players. The precise number attached to an individual player may differ slightly between statistical providers because of their definitions of eligible matches.
Why Penalty Scoring Is More Difficult Than It Looks
A penalty may be taken from only 12 yards away, but reducing it to an easy scoring opportunity ignores the psychological battle taking place.
The taker has most of the goal to aim at, yet the goalkeeper can study previous penalties, identify preferred corners and deliberately delay the kick. The scorer must simultaneously control technique, placement, power and emotion.
The best goal scorers develop repeatable routines. Some decide where the ball is going before beginning their run-up. Others watch the goalkeeper until the final possible moment. Some favour power, while others rely on disguise and precision.
That is why penalty records deserve more respect than they sometimes receive. A player’s total number of football goals may be boosted by penalties, but consistently scoring them over 10, 15 or even 20 years requires a skill of its own.
Top 13 Penalty Goal Scorers of All-Time
- Alan Shearer
- Neymar
- Alessandro Del Piero
- Zlatan Ibrahimović
- Francesco Totti
- Robert Lewandowski
- Hugo Sánchez
- Roberto Baggio
- Harry Kane
- Ronald Koeman
- Romário
- Lionel Messi
- Cristiano Ronaldo
These figures put several generations of elite goal scorers side by side, from players whose careers began in the 1970s and 1980s to stars who remain active today. The numbers for active players can naturally continue increasing.
13. Alan Shearer: 72
Alan Shearer is remembered primarily as one of English football’s most ruthless centre-forwards, but his penalty record was another major reason he scored so consistently.
Shearer rarely complicated the process. His penalties were typically powerful, decisive and struck with the same conviction that defined his finishing from open play. Instead of trying to fool a goalkeeper with an elaborate run-up, he regularly trusted the quality of his strike.
His record in England is particularly impressive. Shearer scored 56 Premier League penalties, making him the competition’s most prolific penalty scorer. Current historical databases credit him with roughly 72 to 73 successful penalties across his senior career.
What makes Shearer’s achievement particularly impressive is the pressure attached to being the primary scorer for clubs such as Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United. When a penalty was awarded, there was rarely any debate over who would take it.
Among the great goal scorers of English football, Shearer remains one of the clearest examples of how traditional centre-forward finishing and elite penalty-taking can complement each other.
His success also helped establish a benchmark that generations of strikers in the English football league system have attempted to match.
12. Neymar: 74 & Still Counting
Neymar approaches penalties very differently from Shearer.
Where the English striker represented power and simplicity, Neymar has built his penalty style around deception. His slow approaches, pauses and ability to read goalkeeper movement frequently force the goalkeeper to make a decision before he strikes the ball.
Historical competitive rankings commonly placed Neymar on around 74 career penalty goals, although broader databases now record considerably more because they include a wider range of competitions, regional tournaments and international friendlies. Transfermarkt, for example, records more than 90 successful penalties across its broader career dataset.
That difference illustrates why penalty statistics should always be compared using the same methodology.
Whatever figure is preferred, Neymar clearly belongs among football’s leading penalty specialists. He has taken penalties for Santos, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Brazil, meaning his opportunities have come in very different competitions and environments.
Few goal scorers have been better at making the goalkeeper reveal an intention first. Neymar’s technique depends on exceptional balance and body control because delaying the final decision leaves very little time to adjust the strike.
His responsibilities have also changed depending on the hierarchy within different football teams, particularly when sharing attacking duties with other elite penalty takers.
11. Alessandro Del Piero: 77
Alessandro Del Piero’s penalty style reflected almost everything that made him such an elegant footballer.
He rarely looked rushed.
The Juventus icon typically prioritised placement and control over simply hitting the ball as hard as possible. That technical quality helped him build a career total of 77 recorded penalties, a figure supported by historical career databases.
Del Piero’s penalty-taking ability was particularly valuable because of the length of his career at Juventus. He remained a central attacking figure through different managers, teammates and tactical systems, yet retained the trust required to take important set pieces.
His success from the spot also formed only one part of a much broader scoring profile. Del Piero could score from open play, direct free kicks and difficult angles, making him one of Italy’s most technically complete attacking players.
The best goal scorers often have several ways to punish opponents, and Del Piero perfectly represented that category.
His composure was also demonstrated during Italy’s victorious 2006 World Cup campaign. Although shootout conversions are not counted as ordinary penalty goals, Del Piero successfully converted his kick during the final shootout against France.
10. Zlatan Ibrahimović: 85
Confidence has never been something Zlatan Ibrahimović lacked.
That personality translated naturally to penalties.
The Swedish striker was physically imposing, technically gifted and capable of generating enormous power without sacrificing accuracy. Goalkeepers therefore faced several possibilities: Ibrahimović could overpower them, wait for movement or place his effort into a corner.
Widely cited rankings credit him with approximately 85 penalty goals, while Transfermarkt currently records 87 successful penalties across its career dataset.
Ibrahimović’s position among football’s leading goal scorers becomes even more impressive when considering the number of competitions in which he performed. He played in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, France, England and the United States while also carrying significant scoring responsibility for Sweden.
That meant constantly facing new goalkeepers who had access to years of footage showing how he took penalties.
Yet he continued scoring.
Ibrahimović’s penalty record also reinforces an important point about longevity. Accumulating a huge total requires more than technical quality. A player must remain important enough to keep taking penalties despite transfers, new teammates and advancing age.
Zlatan repeatedly achieved that.
9. Francesco Totti: 86
Francesco Totti spent his entire senior club career with Roma, giving him something most players on this list never experienced: extraordinary continuity.
As seasons passed and teammates changed, Totti remained Roma’s creative leader, scorer and trusted penalty taker.
He finished his career with 86 recorded penalty goals, including 71 in Serie A according to Transfermarkt’s competition-specific statistics.
Totti was capable of taking conventional penalties into either corner, but his name will forever be associated with another technique: the Panenka.
A Panenka requires the taker to gently chip the ball towards the centre of the goal after predicting that the goalkeeper will dive. It looks effortless when successful but can be embarrassing when the goalkeeper remains central.
Totti had the confidence to use it on major occasions.
That willingness to combine technique with nerve made him one of the most recognisable penalty goal scorers of his generation.
His record is also unusual because he was not an orthodox striker throughout his career. Totti operated as an attacking midfielder, second striker and false nine, yet remained responsible for a huge share of Roma’s attacking output.
8. Robert Lewandowski: 89 & Still Counting
Robert Lewandowski’s penalty technique is almost a case study in biomechanics.
The Polish striker frequently uses a measured run-up designed to give him time to observe the goalkeeper. Instead of always selecting his corner before beginning the approach, Lewandowski can delay his decision and react to the keeper’s movement.
When executed correctly, the technique leaves the goalkeeper facing an extremely difficult choice.
Current career statistics place Lewandowski on approximately 89 successful penalties, while UEFA records show that he has also reached 19 penalty goals in the Champions League, level with Cristiano Ronaldo for the competition record.
Among modern goal scorers, Lewandowski’s combination of volume and efficiency stands out.
His penalties have contributed to prolific spells in Germany, Spain and international football for Poland. More importantly, his reputation has survived changing environments. Whether representing Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Barcelona or his country, he has repeatedly been trusted when the ball is placed on the spot.
Lewandowski has also demonstrated how the role of the penalty taker can influence scoring competitions. A striker playing for a dominant football league club is likely to receive more penalties, but converting them consistently remains the player’s responsibility.
Opportunity creates the chance. Execution creates the goal.
7. Hugo Sánchez: 96
Before Cristiano Ronaldo started rewriting penalty records in Spain, Hugo Sánchez was one of La Liga’s great specialists from 12 yards.
The Mexican striker was a spectacular scorer whose acrobatic finishes often attract more attention, but his penalty record deserves equal recognition.
IFFHS credits Sánchez with 96 penalties scored in top-level games during his career, including 68 in national leagues, nine in domestic cups, 12 in international club competitions and seven for his national team.
Transfermarkt’s historical database records fewer total penalties because its coverage of some older competitions differs, although it confirms that Sánchez scored 56 penalties specifically in La Liga.
That explains why historical rankings sometimes produce slightly different totals.
What is not disputed is Sánchez’s place among the greatest penalty goal scorers football has produced.
He was Real Madrid’s leading striker during an enormously productive era and possessed the confidence expected from a player responsible for deciding matches at one of the world’s most demanding clubs.
His ability from the spot was therefore not an isolated skill. It formed part of a complete scoring package that made him one of Mexico’s greatest-ever footballers.
6. Roberto Baggio: 100
Mention Roberto Baggio and penalties, and many supporters immediately think about the 1994 World Cup final.
Baggio sent Italy’s final shootout penalty over the crossbar as Brazil won the tournament.
It is one of football’s most replayed misses.
Yet allowing that single moment to define Baggio’s penalty-taking ability would completely misrepresent his career.
IFFHS records Baggio as the fifth player to reach 100 top-level penalty goals, while other career databases place his total slightly higher.
That makes him one of the most productive penalty goal scorers in history.
Baggio’s penalties were typically based on control rather than violence. He had the technical ability to send goalkeepers in the wrong direction and place the ball beyond their reach.
His career also spanned an era of Italian football containing some of the world’s finest goalkeepers. Converting regularly against that level of opposition required more than confidence.
Baggio’s penalty statistics are therefore an important reminder about judging players by complete bodies of work rather than isolated moments.
One missed kick can become famous. One hundred successful penalties demonstrate the larger reality.
His penalty record represents a remarkable share of his overall collection of football goals, particularly considering the creative responsibilities he also carried throughout his career.
5. Harry Kane: 109 & Still Counting
Harry Kane has climbed this ranking rapidly.
The England captain has become one of the most dependable penalty takers of the modern era, combining a controlled approach with exceptional ball striking.
Transfermarkt’s current career database records more than 100 successful penalties for Kane, with the figure reaching approximately 109 as his career continues.
His record is particularly impressive because he remains active and therefore has the opportunity to climb significantly higher.
Kane’s technique differs from players who depend heavily on waiting for goalkeeper movement. He can observe the keeper, but he is equally comfortable choosing a location and striking with enough pace and precision that the goalkeeper cannot reach it.
The England striker has also shown considerable psychological resilience.
His missed penalty against France during the 2022 World Cup quarter-final was one of the most painful moments of his international career, but he continued taking high-pressure penalties afterwards rather than changing responsibility.
That mentality is one reason Kane belongs among football’s elite penalty goal scorers.
IFFHS reported in September 2025 that Kane had produced a run of 31 consecutive successful penalties in official club and international matches before that sequence ended.
Such consistency illustrates how penalty-taking can become a genuine competitive advantage rather than simply another route to scoring.
4. Ronald Koeman: 113
Ronald Koeman is the great exception on this list.
Most players near the top are forwards or attack-minded creators.
Koeman was a defender.
Despite playing primarily as a sweeper or centre-back, the Dutchman was one of the most prolific scoring defenders football has ever produced. Penalties and free kicks formed a major part of that extraordinary record.
IFFHS credits Koeman with 113 top-level penalty goals, while Transfermarkt’s broader historical database lists 115.
That places him above almost every specialist striker in football history.
Koeman struck the ball with exceptional power. His penalties often travelled with enough pace that even a goalkeeper moving in the correct direction struggled to stop them.
His ranking among the greatest goal scorers from the penalty spot becomes even more remarkable when his position is considered. Defenders are rarely given permanent responsibility for penalties at elite clubs because attacking players traditionally dominate set-piece duties.
Koeman was good enough to become the exception.
He took penalties for clubs including PSV Eindhoven and Barcelona while also carrying responsibilities for the Netherlands.
His influence helped demonstrate that dead-ball expertise was not dependent on playing position, and his scoring ability provided his football teams with an attacking weapon few defenders in history could match.
3. Romário: 114
Romário’s career scoring numbers are enormous, and penalties form an important part of that record.
IFFHS credits the Brazilian with 114 successful penalties in top-level games, putting him among the first handful of players in football history to pass the 100 mark.
His breakdown is particularly impressive: 87 penalty goals in national leagues, 15 in domestic cup competitions, six in international club competitions and six for Brazil according to the IFFHS historical ranking.
Transfermarkt’s database displays a significantly lower number because its archival coverage of Romário’s long career in Brazil is incomplete compared with IFFHS’s historical dataset.
That is precisely why older players need to be evaluated using specialised historical records rather than relying entirely on a single modern match database.
Romário was never a player who needed many touches to score.
Inside the penalty area, he was extraordinarily efficient, reading the movement of defenders and goalkeepers before finishing quickly. Penalties suited the same mentality.
The great goal scorers usually have an instinct for reducing complex situations to simple decisions. Romário could do that in open play and from the spot.
His 114 penalties also underline the extraordinary duration of his career, which stretched across clubs, countries and multiple generations of opponents.
2. Lionel Messi: 114 & Still Counting
Lionel Messi has scored almost every type of goal imaginable, but penalties have historically been one of the less dominant areas of his game.
That sounds strange for a player sitting second on this list.
The explanation is volume.
When a footballer spends two decades producing extraordinary scoring numbers for Barcelona, Argentina, Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Miami, even a penalty conversion rate below some other specialists can generate an enormous total.
Current statistics place Messi above 110 successful penalties. Some competitive databases list around 114, while broader current career records have him around 116 successful penalties from approximately 149 attempts.
He therefore ranks among the most prolific penalty goal scorers ever, even though penalties are rarely the first thing supporters associate with his greatness.
Messi’s approach has changed throughout his career. At different stages he has relied on precision, goalkeeper observation and occasional variations in run-up.
He has also experienced famous misses.
That matters because it demonstrates that huge penalty totals do not require perfection. Instead, longevity, trust and the willingness to continue taking responsibility after failure are equally important.
Messi’s penalty record also includes major tournament moments for Argentina. At club level, he recorded 18 Champions League penalty goals, placing him among the competition’s all-time leaders.
Few football players have carried such enormous attacking responsibility for so many years, and penalties represent only one component of Messi’s exceptional scoring career.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo: 180 & Still Counting
Cristiano Ronaldo stands alone at the top.
No player in recorded top-level football history has converted penalties at the volume Ronaldo has produced.
IFFHS announced in 2023 that he had become the first player ever to pass 150 top-level penalty goals. By 2026, current career trackers place his total comfortably beyond 180 successful penalties for club and country.
That puts an extraordinary distance between Ronaldo and most other players on this list.
His success is partly a consequence of longevity. Ronaldo has remained an elite scorer for more than two decades and has usually been the first-choice penalty taker for his clubs and Portugal.
But opportunity alone does not explain the record.
A player can only remain the designated penalty taker if he keeps converting.
Ronaldo has repeatedly changed his penalty technique throughout his career. He has used powerful strikes, measured approaches, delayed run-ups and placement into the corners. The ability to adapt has made it harder for goalkeepers to build a single reliable strategy against him.
He also owns major competition-specific records. UEFA’s official Champions League statistics credit Ronaldo with 19 penalty goals in the competition, a figure currently matched by Robert Lewandowski.
Among the greatest goal scorers football has ever seen, Ronaldo’s penalty record is therefore more than a side note. It is another example of the durability, scoring volume and relentless responsibility that have defined his career.
Being asked to take a penalty is one thing.
Remaining the trusted taker across different clubs, managers, countries and generations is something else entirely.
Ronaldo has done it longer and more successfully than anyone.
What Makes a Great Penalty Taker?
There is no single perfect penalty technique.
Ronaldo often combines power with placement. Lewandowski regularly waits for goalkeeper movement. Neymar uses hesitation and deception. Shearer preferred conviction. Totti occasionally introduced the Panenka.
The common factor is repeatability.
Elite penalty takers develop a process they trust even when the circumstances surrounding the kick change.
A penalty taken while a team is already leading 4-0 feels very different from one taken in the final minutes of a championship-deciding match. Technically, the ball is in exactly the same position. Psychologically, they are almost different sports.
That is what separates ordinary takers from the best specialists.
Do Penalty Shootout Goals Count Towards a Player’s Career Total?
No.
Goals scored during penalty shootouts are normally recorded separately and do not increase a player’s official career goal tally.
For example, if a match ends 1-1 before a team wins the shootout 5-4, the official result may be described as a shootout victory, but the five converted kicks do not become five additional goals for the individual players.
That distinction is important when comparing penalty records.
A player may have successfully converted many shootout kicks during World Cups, European Championships or cup competitions without those kicks appearing in his career scoring total.
Final Thoughts
Penalty taking is one of football’s strangest skills.
The distance never changes. The goal never changes. The rules are essentially the same every time.
Everything else does.
The goalkeeper changes. The score changes. The stadium changes. The pressure changes.
The players on this list separated themselves by repeatedly solving that challenge.
Alan Shearer relied on power. Neymar mastered deception. Del Piero and Totti brought Italian technique. Ibrahimović combined confidence and force. Lewandowski developed one of the modern game’s most calculated approaches. Hugo Sánchez, Roberto Baggio, Romário and Ronald Koeman built enormous historical totals long before today’s advanced statistical databases existed.
Harry Kane continues climbing. Lionel Messi has accumulated more than a century of successful penalties alongside his remarkable open-play scoring numbers. And Cristiano Ronaldo remains in a category of his own.
With more than 180 recorded successful penalties and counting, Ronaldo’s position at the top demonstrates both his longevity and his willingness to repeatedly assume one of football’s most pressurised responsibilities.
The next generation will have opportunities to challenge these records, but reaching the very top will require far more than simply being assigned penalty duties. It will demand years of availability, consistency and composure when everyone inside the stadium already knows exactly who is about to take the shot.
Read more here: Top Penalty Goal Scorers Ever!
Image Credit: GettyImages
Frequently Asked Questions
Who has scored the most penalties in football history?
Cristiano Ronaldo has scored the most penalties in recorded football history. Current career statistics put him above 180 successful penalties for club and country.
How many penalties has Cristiano Ronaldo scored?
Current databases record more than 180 successful penalties for Cristiano Ronaldo. Exact totals can differ slightly depending on the competitions included.
How many penalties has Lionel Messi scored?
Lionel Messi has scored more than 110 penalties during his senior career. Different databases currently place the total at roughly 114 to 116 depending on their match-counting methodology.
Has anyone scored 100 penalties?
Yes. Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Romário, Ronald Koeman and Roberto Baggio have all reached or exceeded 100 successful penalties under widely used historical counting methods. Harry Kane has now also moved beyond the 100 mark.
Does a goal in a penalty shootout count as a career goal?
No. Successful kicks during penalty shootouts are not normally added to a player’s official individual career goal total.
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