Best Top 10 Strikers In The History Of Serie A:
The Seria A is the first division of the Italian football league. It began in 1929 and follows a round-robin tournament. The competition started with 18 clubs and now has twenty clubs. At the end of the season, the team with the most points is declared the winner and awarded the Coppa Campioni d’Italia, It is also ranked fourth on the UEFA rankings and the top six teams qualify for the European Leagues. Napoli is the current champion and Juventus is the most successful club in the country winning 36 titles. Seria A is considered the top leagues in football history as it has hosted 42 out of 100 football legends chosen by prominent UK football magazine FourFourTwo, including the great Diego Maradona, Roberto Baggio, Alessandro Del Piero, and Francesco Totti.
Top 10 Strikers In The History Of Serie A:
| Rank | Player | Goals | Goal Ratio |
| 1 | Silvio Piola | 274 | 0.51 |
| 2 | Totti | 260 | 0.40 |
| 3 | Gunnar Nordahl | 225 | 0.77 |
| 4 | José Altafini | 216 | 0.47 |
| 5 | Di Natalie | 209 | 0.47 |
| 6 | Robert Baggio | 205 | 0.45 |
| 7 | Ciro Immobile | 197 | 0.59 |
| 8 | Kurt Hamrin | 190 | 0.48 |
| 9 | Giuseppe Signori | 188 | 0.55 |
| 10 | Del Piero | 188 | 0.39 |
10: Alessandro Del Piero
Del Piero is an Italian Professional footballer who played in the Seria A for 478 matches in Juventus and scored 188 goals having a goal ratio of 0.39 in the league, he also played in the first edition of the Indian Super League. Juventus acquired the player at the age of just 18 years for approximately 2 million euros. He scored five goals in the first season and would go on to score 290 goals for the club in all competitions.
In his career, he has won six league titles, one Champions League trophy, and the World Cup. In 2012, he left Juventus and signed a new contract with the Australian side, Sydney FC. His tenure was marked with success scoring 24 goals and was named in Sydney FC’s Team of the Decade and again in the AFC Team of the Decade.
At the end of his career, he moved to Delhi Dynamos, an Indian football side for 10.8 crores making him the most expensive player in the league. In 2015, he was left without a team and retired at 41 years old to pursue a coaching career. Del Piero will always be remembered as a legend of Juventus.
9: Giuseppe Signori
Giuseppe Signori is an Italian professional footballer who played in the Seria A for 344 matches in four clubs and scored 188 goals having a goal ratio of 0.55 in the league, he made his first professional debut for Leffe in 1984, his first year in the league wasn’t successful and would go on to switch four clubs, until Lazio signed him and he reached his prime at Lazio by scoring 107 goals in just 152 matches and won the top goalscorer of the league three times but failed to win any league titles, internationally he was a runners up in the 1994 world cup.
In 1998 he was sold to Sampordia and went on to play for Bologna which revived his career as he would score 66 goals and help the team win the UEFA Intertoto Cup. He retired in 2005 and became a pundit on a Seria A radio show. In June 2011, he was arrested in a football betting scandal but was acquitted in 2021 due to lack of evidence. Signori left football activities and now enjoys a peaceful retirement with his family.
8: Kurt Hamrin
Kurt Hamrin is a Swedish professional footballer who played for four clubs in the Seria A and scored 190 goals in 400 matches, having a ratio of 0.48. Harman made his Serie A debut for Juventus in the year 1956 and scored eight goals in his first season after which he was loaned to Padova and had an impressive season scoring 20 goals in just 30 matches. This performance led to Fiorentina purchasing the player, he would also go on to have the most successful tenure of his career in the club scoring 150 goals in the league and winning the Coppa Italia twice, he is also the all-time top scorer of the club, for the national team, his tenure won’t be successful but did help Sweden reach the final of the 1958 World Cup by scoring a goal leading the team to a 3-1 win but will subsequently lose the finals against Brazil, He retired with 17 goals in 32 matches.
The player also had short stints with Italian clubs like AC Milan and Napoli but it will be obvious that he was past his best as he could manage to score only 12 goals in 4 years. In 1972 at 38 years old, he announced his retirement but his relationship with the game didn’t end as he was brought by as a squad by AC Milan for a decade between 1998 and 2008. The highly skilled right winger now lives a peaceful life with his family in Florence, he also remains the only surviving Swedish player of the famous 1958 World Cup Final.
7: Ciro Immobile
Immobile is an Italian professional footballer who scored a staggering 197 goals in 333 appearances for four clubs and has a goal ratio of 0.59 in the Seria A. The player plays as a striker and currently captains both his club and the National Team. He started his career in the league with Sorrento and was later sold to Juventus where he would be loaned out to three different clubs in the second division, his last tenure in the Pescare saw his introduction to Italian football where he scored 28 goals in just 37 matches and would go on to win the league and be the top scorer of the second division.
Immobile came back into the top division after transfer to Genoa where he had a poor season scoring only 5 goals, the club sold him to their rivals Torino where he had his first impressive season scoring 29 goals in 33 matches and winning Capocannoniere, the award for the top scorer in Seria A, after this he was acquired by German Giants, Borussia Dortmund for 18 million euros but their style of play didn’t suit him and the club loaned him out to Sevilla, in La Liga there was a lot of expectations on the player but on 31 July 2015 during a friendly match against Watford, he got injured after clashing heads with an opponent and was stretched off the pitch wearing an oxygen mask and a neck brace.
It took him four months to recover and on his return in November, he scored his first goal for the team against Real Madrid leading to a 3-2 win. In the Winter Transfer of that season, he was back in Torino and scored his first brace against Palermo but a muscle injury saw him miss out another two months of the season.
In July 2016 he was signed by Lazio for 8.75 million euros and his best campaign came at the club scoring 26 goals in his debut season but the team went trophy-less that year. In 2017, he scored a brace against former club Juventus in the Suppercopa Italia and led to a 3-2 victory, winning his first domestic trophy in Italy. The season would prove to be successful for the player as he was the joint top scorer of the league and Europa League with 29 and 8 goals respectively but his teammates didn’t perform well enough and the team finished fifth in the league table.
In the 2019 season, he scored 36 goals and won the top scorer of the league again also equalling the record for the highest goal in a single Seria A season. He signed a 5-year contract extension for Lazio in 2020. This year proved successful for him as he won his first UEFA European champions with Italy and won the Capocanniere once again with 27 goals in the subsequent season, He currently has a total of 170 goals in all appearances for the club, the highest in the club history.
In addition to this, he has also won the Lazio Player of the Season, Italian Sportsman of the Year, and Seria A Best Forward of the Year twice in 2020 and 2022. Recently in April 2023, he suffered a spinal cord injury and a rib fracture after a car accident and hasn’t played any professional football for the year. It seems like the beginning of the end of an impressive career but hopefully, he can finish it off with a league title.
6: Roberto Baggio
Roberto Baggio is an Italian former professional footballer who scored 205 goals in 452 appearances for six clubs, having a goal ratio of 0.45 in the Seria A. He started his professional career with Vicenza in 1982 playing as a Forward and an attacking midfielder scoring 13 goals in his first season, he was destined for greatness. The most successful tenure in his career came in Juventus where he scored 78 goals in 141 matches and won the Seria A, Ballon D’or, FIFA Player of the Year, and Onze D’or.
It was during his time he led his international team to the final of the 1994 USA World Cup scoring 5 goals and providing 7 assists, it looked like he was single-handedly leading the international team to victory but during a penalty shootout, he missed the last penalty and Brazil would go on to win the title. It is often said that the incident affected him mentally for years and is the biggest regret of his life as he mentioned in his autobiography. After this incident, he wasn’t able to get back to his best and transferred to AC Milan in 1995 even though the team was able to win the league he scored only 12 goals in 2 years with the club.
In 2000, he was transferred to Brescia and scored 46 goals in 101 appearances with the team and ended his professional career in 2004. Four Four Two, a prominent outlet also named him as the top 100 best footballers of all time. After his retirement, he was appointed president of the technical sector of the Italian Football Federation. In 2012, he also earned his category 1 UEFA Pro Coaching license and is now officially allowed to coach a professional Seria A club.
5: Antonio Di Natale
Di Natale is a Former Italian professional footballer who scored 209 goals in 445 appearances for two clubs and had a goal ratio of 0.47 in the Serie A. He started his career with Empoli in the second division of the league scoring 49 goals in 158 appearances and was quickly picked up by Udinese in the 2004 season, he had the most successful tenure of his career with the club scoring 191 goals in 385 matches and wining the Capocannoniere twice in the 2010 and 2011, he also won the Seria A Italian footballer of the year award in 2010 and was the Coppa Italia Top scorer for year 2015 but was unable to win any team championships or trophies even Internationally where they came second in the Euro Championship 2012.
Di Natalie is considered one of the most underrated players in the world and was extremely loyal to the club and its fans, this was proven when he turned down an 8 million euro contract to play with MLS side New York City FC in 2015 as he wanted to retire from professional football with his club Udinese and finally in 2016, he announced his retirement and wanted to get involved with coaching and was hired by Spezia to coach their youth team, he also had his first professional coaching experience for the Serie C club Carrarese in 2021 but sadly, Di Natale mutually ended his contract with the team and now lives a peaceful life with his wife and kids.
4. José Altafini
José Altafini is a former Brazilian Professional footballer who has scored 216 goals in 459 appearances for three clubs, having a 0.47 goal ratio in the Serie A. He made his professional debut in 1956 with the Brazilian football team, Palmeiras where he scored 89 goals in just 114 matches. In 1958, he won the world cup with Brazil making him one of the youngest to achieve the feat after his teammate Pele, after this impressive season, AC Milan bought him for 135 million Lire at just 20 years old, and he scored 28 goals in 32 appearances in his debut season for the club and would go on to win the Seria A that season, Jose continued to score 20 plus goals in the next fourth season and won another Seria A title in 1962 and his first champions league trophy in 1963, it was also at this club where he achieved the three-peat of Seria A top goalscorer(1961), Coppa Italia top goal scorer(1962) and the European Top goal scorer(1963).
José Altafinia was also featured in the AC Milan Hall of Fame. In 1965, Jose was acquired by Napoli and he performed decently in his first season scoring 22 goals and winning the Coppa Delle Alpi in 1966 his performance deteriorated in the subsequent seasons, and was sold to Juventus where he won two Seria A titles but it was largely because of his teammate’s performances and in the last season, he only scored 2 goals in all appearances. In 1976, he played for the Swiss side, FC Chiasso and retired after four years with a second-division team, Mendriostar at the age of 42, after his retirement, he was involved with punditry and also wrote two books.
Now at the age of 85, he lives with his family in Piracciciba, Brazil. His spot is also shared by Guiseppe Mazzini with 216 goals.
3. Gunnar Nordahl
Nordahl was a Swedish Professional footballer who scored 225 goals in just 291 appearances for two clubs and has a goal-highest goal ratio of 0.77 in the Seria A. He started his professional career in 1937 playing for Swedish side Hörnefors IF where he scored 68 goals in 41 games. In 1944, he would go to play for IFK Norrköping and won four Swedish championships and scored 91 goals, his record of scoring 7 goals in a single match is still in place in the league, and was the Allsvenskan top scorer for four years, he also won the Swedish Footballer of the year in 1947.
Gunnar’s performance was recognised by AC Milan which bought him in 1949 and he would continue his dominance scoring 210 in 257 appearances, becoming Sere A’s top scorer for five years and winning two league titles and two domestic cups. Internationally, Nordahl won the Olympic gold medal in 1948 and has 43 goals in 33 appearances for the national team. He had a short stint in Roma as player-manager and ended his playing career at 39 years with Karlstad BK.
After retirement, he continued coaching the team and subsequently managed seven other Swedish sides. At the time of his death 15 September 1995, Gunnar was known as the fireman and was inducted into the AC Milan Hall of Fame.
2. Francesco Totti
Totti is a former Italian professional footballer and a legend of the Serie A. He has scored 250 goals in 619 appearances for Roma and has a goal ratio of 0.40 in the Seria A. He started his professional career in 1993 with Roma and played his entire career with the club, earning him the title of the most loyal player in the history of football. Totti scored 307 goals in all appearances for the club winning one league title and four domestic cups. Internationally, he was also part of the 2006 World Cup winning squad, and individually he won four Seria A Best Italian Footballer of the Year, two Guerin d’Oro, one European Golden Boot and was inducted into Roma’s Hall of Fame in 2017, and Italian Football hall of fame in 2018.
In July 2017, after 24 years with the club, he announced retirement and accepted an offer to become the club’s director but left the role shortly after a controversy where he accused the chairman and team management of involving him in the decision-making process, outside of football, he was also involved in philanthropy as UNICEF goodwill ambassador and also had small role in the famous movie “gladiator”. Recently in 2020, on Totti, there was a documentary film by Alex Infascelli “My Name Is Francesco Totti”.
1. Silvio Piola
Silvio Piola was a former professional footballer who is the all-time top scorer of Serie A with 274 goals in 537 appearances for four clubs. He played for Pro Vercelli in his youth career and was promoted to play for the club’s senior team in 1929 and scored 13 goals for his debut, in October 1933, he also scored 6 goals in a match making it the joint-most goals scored in a single match in Serie A in a 7-2 win against Fiorentina. At the end of his stay with the club, he had scored 51 goals in 127 appearances.
Lazio picked Piola up in 1934 and he spent nine seasons in the club scoring 143 goals in 227 league appearances becoming the second all-time top goal scorer of the club and won the Serie A top goal scorer for two years. He was also part of the squad that won the FIFA World Cup in 1938. Silvio had a short stint for Torino in 1943 scoring 27 goals and went back to Italian giants, Juventus where he had a decent stint scoring 26 goals in 57 matches and helping the team get back to the top division. In 1947, Novara picked the player up in the transfer market and he helped the team win Serie B.
Silvio scored 86 goals in 185 matches for the club and retired at the age of 39. After his retirement, he was the athletic coach of the National team and spent three years as the manager of the Italian side, Caligiari Calcio. He died on 4th October 1996 at age 83 and was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Walk of Fame of Italian Sport in 2015.
On this day in #SerieA:
— The Cult of Calcio (@cultofcalcio) September 29, 2023
September 29, 1913 - The greatest #calcio goal-scorer was born!
The name Silvio Piola may not ring a bell to modern fans, but this legend is the all-time top scorer in Serie A with 290 goals
He played for Pro Vercelli, #Lazio, #Torino, #Juve and Novara pic.twitter.com/B8bSlXNeoT
Honorable Mentions:
Alberto Gilardino:
Alberto is an Italian professional footballer who played in the Seria A for 514 matches in 8 clubs, scored 188 goals, and has a goal ratio of 0.37 in the league, considered one of the best in the league. He had the most successful time in Parma where he scored 50 goals in just 96 matches.
In 2005, he was transferred to AC million for 25 million euros, the highest any club paid to acquire his service, and would go on to score 36 goals in 3 years. The player also has a short contract with Chinese side Guangzhou Evergrande on a loan for 10 million euros, after this, he never got back to his best and continued to be transferred around several low-tier clubs finally in 2018, he announced his retirement in Spezia at just 36 years old, his love for football continued and became a manager at Rezzato, he currently manages the Genoa side in the Italian league.
We have seen many great strikers play in Serie A apart from the few ultras mentioned above such as Zlatan, Cristiano Ronaldo, Marco Van Basten and many others. The popularity and passion of the Italian league attracts the biggest talents of the world to play here and make a name in the history books forever.
