The UEFA Europa League becomes more and more popular as seasons fly by.
One of the reasons for the competition becoming more in vogue is the fact that some of the historic giants of the soccer world are currently underperforming within their domestic leagues.
Look at Manchester United, for example.
Ever since their last league title win in 2013, the club has finished in the top four Premier League places only four times.
That’s four out of eight seasons where they’ve not guaranteed automatic qualification to Europe’s best soccer tournament – the UEFA Champions League.
And because fallen giants like Manchester United bring in such large viewership figures regardless of how they perform, the appeal of the UEFA Europa League has grown quite considerably.
Anyway, this article hasn’t been written to enjoy the anguish of Manchester United fans who now see their team regularly playing in Europe’s so-called “second tier” competition.
No.
Instead, it seeks to reveal the UEFA Europa League’s top goal scorers season by season.
Here, have a look at the table below which breaks this down by year:
| Season | Player | Team(s) | Goals Scored |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971/1972 | Ludwig Bründl | Eintracht Braunschweig | 10 |
| 1972/1973 | Jupp Heynckes | Borussia Mönchengladbach | 12 |
| 1972/1973 | Jan Jeuring | FC Twente | 12 |
| 1973/1974 | Lex Schoenmaker | Feyenoord | 11 |
| 1974/1975 | Jupp Heynckes | Borussia Mönchengladbach | 10 |
| 1975/1976 | Ruud Geels | Ajax | 14 |
| 1976/1977 | Stan Bowles | Queens Park Rangers | 11 |
| 1977/1978 | Gerrie Deijkers | PSV Eindhoven | 8 |
| 1977/1978 | Raimondo Ponte | Grasshopper | 8 |
| 1978/1979 | Allan Simonsen | Borussia Mönchengladbach | 9 |
| 1978/1979 | Dieter Hoeneß | Bayern München | 7 |
| 1979/1980 | Harald Nickel | Borussia Mönchengladbach | 7 |
| 1980/1981 | John Wark | Ipswich Town | 14 |
| 1981/1982 | Torbjörn Nilsson | IFK Göteborg | 9 |
| 1982/1983 | Zoran Filipović | S.L. Benfica | 8 |
| 1983/1984 | Tibor Nyilasi | Austria Wien | 9 |
| 1984/1985 | Edin Bahtić | FK Željezničar Sarajevo | 7 |
| 1984/1985 | Gary Bannister | Queens Park Rangers | 7 |
| 1985/1986 | Klaus Allofs | 1. FC Köln | 9 |
| 1986/1987 | Paulinho Cascavel | Vitória de Guimarães | 5 |
| 1986/1987 | Peter Houtman | FC Groningen | 5 |
| 1986/1987 | Wim Kieft | Torino | 5 |
| 1986/1987 | Jari Rantanen | IFK Göteborg | 5 |
| 1987/1988 | Kenneth Brylle Larsen | Club Brugge | 6 |
| 1987/1988 | Dimitris Saravakos | Panathinaikos F.C. | 6 |
| 1988/1989 | Torsten Gütschow | Dynamo Dresden | 7 |
| 1989/1990 | Falko Götz | 1. FC Köln | 6 |
| 1989/1990 | Karl-Heinz Riedle | Werder Bremen | 6 |
| 1990/1991 | Rudi Völler | AS Roma | 10 |
| 1991/1992 | Dean Saunders | Liverpool | 9 |
| 1992/1993 | Gérald Baticle | Auxerre | 8 |
| 1993/1994 | Dennis Bergkamp | Inter Milan | 8 |
| 1993/1994 | Edgar Schmitt | Karlsruher SC | 8 |
| 1994/1995 | Ulf Kirsten | Bayer Leverkusen | 10 |
| 1995/1996 | Jürgen Klinsmann | Bayern München | 15 |
| 1996/1997 | Maurizio Ganz | Inter Milan | 8 |
| 1997/1998 | Stéphane Guivarc'h | Auxerre | 7 |
| 1998/1999 | Enrico Chiesa | Parma | 8 |
| 1998/1999 | Darko Kovačević | Real Sociedad | 8 |
| 1998/1999 | Tomasz Kulawik | Wisła Kraków | 8 |
| 1999/2000 | Darko Kovačević | Juventus | 10 |
| 2000/2001 | Dimitar Berbatov | CSKA Sofia | 7 |
| 2000/2001 | Bolo | Rayo Vallecano | 7 |
| 2001/2002 | Pierre van Hooijdonk | Feyenoord | 8 |
| 2002/2003 | Derlei | FC Porto | 12 |
| 2003/2004 | Sonny Anderson | Villareal CF | 6 |
| 2004/2005 | Alan Shearer | Newcastle United | 11 |
| 2005/2006 | Matías Emilio Delgado | FC Basel | 9 |
| 2006/2007 | Walter Pandiani | RCD Espanyol | 11 |
| 2007/2008 | Pavel Pogrebnyak | Zenit Saint Petersburg | 10 |
| 2007/2008 | Luca Toni | Bayern München | 10 |
| 2008/2009 | Vágner Love | CSKA Moscow | 11 |
| 2009/2010 | Óscar Cardozo | S.L. Benfica | 9 |
| 2009/2010 | Claudio Pizarro | Werder Bremen | 9 |
| 2010/2011 | Radamel Falcao | FC Porto | 17 |
| 2011/2012 | Radamel Falcao | Atletico Madrid | 12 |
| 2012/2013 | Libor Kozák | Lazio | 8 |
| 2013/2014 | Jonathan Soriano | Red Bull Salzburg | 8 |
| 2014/2015 | Romelu Lukaku | Everton | 8 |
| 2014/2015 | Alan | Red Bull Salzburg | 8 |
| 2015/2016 | Aritz Aduriz | Athletic Bilbao | 10 |
| 2016/2017 | Edin Džeko | AS Roma | 8 |
| 2016/2017 | Giuliano | Zenit Saint Petersburg | 8 |
| 2017/2018 | Aritz Aduriz | Athletic Bilbao | 8 |
| 2017/2018 | Ciro Immobile | Lazio | 8 |
| 2018/2019 | Olivier Giroud | Chelsea | 11 |
| 2019/2020 | Bruno Fernandes | Sporting CP; Manchester United | 8 |
| 2020/2021 | Borja Mayoral | AS Roma | 7 |
| 2020/2021 | Gerard Moreno | Villareal CF | 7 |
| 2020/2021 | Pizzi | S.L. Benfica | 7 |
| 2020/2021 | Yusuf Yazıcı | LOSC Lille | 7 |
| 2021/2022 | James Tavernier | Rangers | 7 |
You’ll notice that the list goes as far back as 1971, and that’s because the data for the Europa League and the previous version of this tournament – the UEFA Cup – have been combined together.
So, when the numbers for the Europa League stop at the 2009/2010 campaign with Óscar Cardozo and Claudio Pizzaro’s nine goals, the table simply carries on with the added information from past seasons of the UEFA Cup.
Which player has won the most Europa League Boot awards?
This question has an answer that you wouldn’t typically expect.
And that’s because there are four players who share the title for most Europa League Golden Boot awards. Jupp Heynckes, Radamel Falcao, Darko Kovačević and Aritz Aduriz each have two top scorer trophies for this competition.
Here’s a table that provides an even better visualization of that information:
| Player | Golden Boot Awards | Club(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Radamel Falcao | 2 | FC Porto; Atletico Madrid |
| Jupp Heynckes | 2 | Borussia Mönchengladbach |
| Aritz Aduriz | 2 | Athletic Bilbao |
| Darko Kovačević | 2 | Real Sociedad; Juventus |
Who is the Europa League top scorer for the 2021/2022 season?
At the time of writing, there’s a really close fought battle for the 2021/2022 Europa League top scorer award.
Update: In the end, Ranger’s James Tavernier won the Europa League top scorer award as he managed seven goals over the course of this past season.
Even though he was previously tied on goals with Olympique Lyon’s Karl Toko Ekambi, the Cameroonian’s club was already eliminated from this season’s competition which allowed him to claim the award.
Who is the highest goal scorer in UEFA Europa League history?
Naturally, you’d want to know which player leads the all-time goal scoring charts for this competition.
Well, here’s the answer…
Radamel Falcao and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar are the highest goal scorers in Europa League history, having each accumulated 30 goals in this tournament over the course of their professional careers.
However, Falcao slightly edges out Huntelaar due to the fact that he accomplished this feat in fewer games than the Dutchman.
If you’ve been following soccer for some time, you’ll already know that Columbia’s Falcao was a very prolific forward in his prime, and Huntelaar had some of the best finishing skill that a talented striker could wish to have.
Closing thoughts
The Europa League is gradually growing to become a competition that sports fans like to watch, especially with popular teams like Barcelona, Napoli, Lazio and West Ham involved in this season’s edition.
You can take a look at our other Golden Boot winner lists if you fancy a read of these as well:
- La Liga top scorers from 1928 to 2021
- Premier League top scorers from 1992 to 2021
- Bundesliga top scorers from 1963 to 2021
- Serie A top scorers from 1923 to 2021
- Ligue 1 top scorers from 1932 to 2021
- UEFA Champions League top scorers from 1955 to 2021
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