Most goals scored per year in 21st century

In this article, we will learn about the player with the most goals scored per year since 2000, that is, in the 21st century.

The Guinness Book of World Records lists Lionel Messi’s 91 goals as the most goals ever scored by football player in a single year.

Messi eclipsed German football star Gerd Muller’s record of 85 goals in a single year by scoring 79 goals for the Blaugranas and 12 goals for La Albiceleste in just 69 games for both his club and his country that year.

However, unofficial records show that Godfrey Chitalu of Zambia has scored the most goals in a single calendar year. In 1972, when the club and international football seasons spanned 309 days, the striker scored an incredible 116 goals. However, his goal total was never recorded, and FIFA never kept an eye on domestic competitions.

Zambian football writer Jerry Muchimba, however, took the effort to write an entire book on Chitalu’s goals, stating, “Countries with well-organised Football Associations have official records of all matches played by their national team and record holders for appearances and goals scored can be easily identified.

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“Unfortunately, this is not the case in Zambia. No official record of all national team matches has ever been made public so people can only guess as to who the record holders are,” he had added.