Top 15 ranked 

Ronaldo, Messi & Co. - Which golden oldies have scored the most international goals after 30?

©TM/IMAGO

Football, like most sports, is often obsessed with youth. Player market values are directly related to their age, while transfer fees are often wildly inflated if a young player is shown to have the capacity to play at a higher level. However, when it comes to winning games, there’s no substitute for experience. And this year’s World Cup is a perfect example of that. Whether it be Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo or Edin Dzeko, many of the best national teams on the planet will be relying on golden oldies to get the job done. So which senior strikers have proven to be just as good – if not better – in their twilight years?

To no surprise, Ronaldo is top of the list when it comes to international goals scored after the 30th birthday. The Portugal international has bagged an incredible 91 goals for his national team over the course of the last 11 years, which is almost twice his goal tally before his 30th birthday. In second place is Iranian striker Ali Daei, followed by current World Cup holder Messi. The Argentinian forward, much like his Portuguese counterpart, has now scored more goals after his 30th birthday for Argentina than he did before it. In fourth place is Indian talisman Sunil Chhetri, who has bagged 52 goals after his 30th birthday, followed by French late bloomer Olivier Giroud, who unfortunately won’t be at this year’s World Cup for his national team.

Golden oldies

As we can see in the graphic, several international football’s most impressive marksmen were actually more potent in front of goal in their thirties than they were in their twenties. Alongside the aforementioned top five, there is also Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Jan Koller, Romário, Didier Drogba, Tim Cahill, Mehdi Taremi and Eran Zahavi, who all scored more goals in the latter years of their careers. However, considering that Dzeko scored 45 goals for Bosnia before his 30th birthday and has bagged just 28 since then, it seems unlikely that the 40-year-old striker will be able to level out that goalscoring record at the World Cup this year.

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