Kylian Mbappé, last season, added his name to an elite list of UEFA Champions League top scorers.
He joined goalscoring kings after finishing the 2025/26 campaign as the competition’s leading scorer with 15 goals.
The UEFA Champions League highlighted the season-by-season list on its social media platforms, showcasing the players who have finished top of the scoring charts since the 2000/01 campaign.
Champions League top scorers are heroes of the game and Mbappé’s 15-goal haul placed him alongside some of the biggest names in Champions League history and earned him the individual scoring crown for the second time.
UEFA said he scored his 15 goals in 11 appearances, with 13 coming during the league phase — a new record for that stage of the competition.
His latest achievement also continues a remarkable era dominated by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, who accounted for the top-scorer honour in 12 of the 13 seasons between 2007/08 and 2019/20, with Robert Lewandowski ending that run in 2019/20.
PUNCH Online reports that the 2026/27 UEFA Champions League league phase draw will take place on Thursday, August 27, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco from 6pm CET (5pm UK/Nigeria time), with Europe’s elite goal scorers poised for another campaign in which they could make or rewrite Champions League history.
As shared by UEFA on its social handles on Tuesday, here is the full list of Champions League top scorers from 2000/01 to 2025/26:
2025/26 — Kylian Mbappé, 15 goals
Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid) — 15 goals
Mbappé finished ahead of Harry Kane after scoring 15 goals in 11 appearances. He scored 13 goals in the league phase alone before adding two more in the knockout rounds.
2024/25 — Raphinha and Serhou Guirassy, 13 goals
Raphinha (Barcelona) — 13 goals
Serhou Guirassy (Borussia Dortmund) — 13 goals
The pair shared the scoring crown after outstanding campaigns. UEFA confirmed that both players finished with 13 goals.
2023/24 — Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappé, 8 goals
Harry Kane (Bayern Munich) — 8 goals
Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain) — 8 goals
Kane and Mbappé shared the honour with eight goals apiece.
2022/23 — Erling Haaland, 12 goals
Erling Haaland (Manchester City) — 12 goals
Haaland powered Manchester City’s run to their first Champions League title while finishing as the competition’s leading scorer.
2021/22 — Karim Benzema, 15 goals
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) — 15 goals
Benzema’s 15-goal campaign was one of the defining individual performances of Real Madrid’s title-winning run.
2020/21 — Erling Haaland, 10 goals
Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund) — 10 goals
Haaland became the leading scorer as a teenager and established himself as one of Europe’s most feared forwards.
2019/20 — Robert Lewandowski, 15 goals
Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) — 15 goals
Lewandowski ended the Ronaldo-Messi dominance of the scoring charts and helped Bayern Munich win the trophy.
2018/19 — Lionel Messi, 12 goals
Lionel Messi (Barcelona) — 12 goals
Messi claimed another scoring crown after producing 12 goals for Barcelona.
2017/18 — Cristiano Ronaldo, 15 goals
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) — 15 goals
Ronaldo continued his extraordinary Champions League run, finishing top scorer as Real Madrid lifted the trophy for a third consecutive year.
2016/17 — Cristiano Ronaldo, 12 goals
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) — 12 goals
Ronaldo finished top scorer again as Madrid became the first team to successfully defend the Champions League title in the competition’s modern era.
2015/16 — Cristiano Ronaldo, 16 goals
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) — 16 goals
Ronaldo produced one of the greatest scoring seasons in Champions League history, finishing with 16 goals.
2014/15 — Messi, Neymar and Ronaldo, 10 goals
Lionel Messi (Barcelona) — 10 goals
Neymar (Barcelona) — 10 goals
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) — 10 goals
The 2014/15 campaign produced a rare three-way tie at the top of the scoring charts.
2013/14 — Cristiano Ronaldo, 17 goals
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) — 17 goals
Ronaldo set the benchmark with 17 goals — a record for the most goals scored by a player in a single Champions League campaign at the time.
2012/13 — Cristiano Ronaldo, 12 goals
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) — 12 goals
Ronaldo retained the scoring crown with 12 goals.
2011/12 — Lionel Messi, 14 goals
Lionel Messi (Barcelona) — 14 goalsa
Messi scored 14 goals, including five in Barcelona’s famous 7-1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen.
2010/11 — Lionel Messi, 12 goals
Lionel Messi (Barcelona) — 12 goals
Messi finished top scorer as Barcelona won the Champions League.
2009/10 — Lionel Messi, 8 goals
Lionel Messi (Barcelona) — 8 goals
Messi claimed his second Champions League scoring crown.
2008/09 — Lionel Messi, 9 goals
Lionel Messi (Barcelona) — 9 goals
Messi led the scoring as Barcelona completed a historic treble.
2007/08 — Cristiano Ronaldo, 8 goals
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) — 8 goals
Ronaldo’s eight goals helped Manchester United win the Champions League, including his goal in the final against Chelsea.
2006/07 — Kaká, 10 goals
Kaká (AC Milan) — 10 goals
The Brazilian midfielder was the competition’s leading scorer as AC Milan reached the final.
2005/06 — Andriy Shevchenko, 9 goals
Andriy Shevchenko (AC Milan) — 9 goals
Shevchenko finished as the leading scorer with nine goals.
2004/05 — Ruud van Nistelrooy, 8 goals
Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United) — 8 goals
The Dutch striker claimed the scoring crown with eight goals.
2003/04 — Fernando Morientes, 9 goals
Fernando Morientes (Monaco) — 9 goals
Morientes enjoyed a remarkable campaign with Monaco, scoring nine times as the club reached the final.
2002/03 — Ruud van Nistelrooy, 12 goals
Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United) — 12 goals
Van Nistelrooy returned to the top of the scoring charts with 12 goals.
2001/02 — Ruud van Nistelrooy, 10 goals
Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United) — 10 goals
The Manchester United striker scored 10 times to finish as the competition’s leading scorer.
2000/01 — Raúl, 7 goals
Raúl (Real Madrid) — 7 goals
Raúl opened the list for the new millennium, finishing the 2000/01 campaign as the Champions League’s top scorer with seven goals.
Ronaldo, Messi’s modern scoring era
The list underlines the extraordinary dominance of Ronaldo and Messi during the late 2000s and 2010s.
Ronaldo finished top scorer seven times between 2007/08 and 2017/18, while Messi claimed the honour six times during his Barcelona years.
The pair also shared the scoring crown in the 2014/15 campaign alongside Neymar.
Ronaldo’s 17-goal haul in 2013/14 remains one of the standout scoring feats on the list, while his 16 goals in 2015/16 are the second-highest total recorded in the period covered.
Mbappé is now beginning to establish his own place in that conversation.
The French forward has twice finished as Champions League top scorer — first jointly in 2023/24 and then outright in 2025/26.
His latest campaign was particularly striking. UEFA said his 13 league-phase goals were a competition record for that stage, while his final tally of 15 put him level with some of the greatest single-season scoring totals of the modern Champions League era.
The complete historical list is published by UEFA, with the governing body also noting that Ronaldo and Messi dominated the scoring charts for much of the period before Lewandowski ended their long run in 2019/20.
