Football, or soccer as it’s known in some parts of the world, has been contested in all but two editions of the Summer Olympics. Hungary and Great Britain are tied for the all-time lead with three gold medals, although neither nation has finished first since 1968. Brazil, Argentina, the Soviet Union, and Uruguay are the only other countries with at least two Olympic gold medals in football.
While Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are the greatest players in the modern game and arguably among the best footballers of all time, they are far from the greatest players in Olympic history. This is in part due to the fact that many top players skip the Olympics to play in important club matches or rest for club tournaments, including Copa America and the UEFA European Championship. Ronaldo made his sole appearance for Portugal in 2004 and Messi won a gold medal with Argentina in his only Olympic appearance in 2008.
Here’s a look at the top seven goal scorers in Olympic football history, a list that only includes athletes who competed in the Summer Olympics in the 20th century.
Sophus Nielsen (Denmark)
One of the earliest stars in Olympic football, Denmark’s Sophus Nielsen scored 13 goals during the 1908 and 1912 Games. The 1908 Games in London, England marked only the third time that football was contested at the Olympics and was the first to feature a proper tournament with eight teams: Denmark, Bohemia, Great Britain, Sweden, Netherlands, Hungary, and two French teams. Nielsen scored 10 of his 13 Olympic football goals in Denmark’s 17-1 victory over one of the two French teams in the semi-finals. This was and remains the largest margin of victory in an Olympic football match.
Nielsen scored once in Denmark’s 9-0 victory over the other French side in the quarter-finals and was kept off the scoresheet in the final, which Denmark lost 2-0 to Great Britain. He added two more goals in Denmark’s 7-0 victory over Norway in the quarter-finals at the 1912 Games. Nielsen scored 16 career goals in 20 international matches for Denmark and later served as manager of the national team. He died in 1963.
Antal Dunai (Hungary)
Antal Dunai is one of two footballers from Hungary to score at least 10 goals in the Olympics. The talented striker, who played for the domestic clubs Pécsi Dózsa SC, Újpesti Dózsa, and Debrecen from 1961-62 to 1977-78, scored a combined 13 goals at Olympic Games in 1964, 1968, and 1972. He led the country to the Olympic final in each of his three appearances, winning gold in 1964 and 1968 and silver in 1972.
Although he played in three Olympics, Dunai scored all of his 13 goals in the 1968 and 1972 Games. He scored six in 1968, including two in Hungary’s 4-1 win in the final over Bulgaria, and seven in 1972. He scored three goals in Hungary’s 5-0 Group C win over Iran in 1972. The Hungarian government awarded him a lifetime achievement award at the World Fair Play Gala in 2023.
Ferenc Bene (Hungary)
Ferenc Bene is in sole possession of second place all-time in Olympic football scoring with 12 goals. The Hungarian striker, who was the country’s top scorer in the 1966 World Cup, scored all 12 of his Olympic goals in five matches at the 1964 Games, including six in a 6-0 victory over Morocco and the game-winning goal against Czechoslovakia in the final. He received the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary in 1994 and died in 2006.
Domingo Tarasconi (Argentina)
Along with Bene, Argentina’s Domingo Tarasconi is one of only four players to record multiple three-goal games in the Olympics. He scored all 11 of those goals at the 1928 Games in Amsterdam, leading his country to the final before losing 2-1 on penalties to Uruguay. He scored four goals in Argentina’s 11-2 victory over the United States and had another four in the team’s 6-3 quarter-final win over Belgium. He was the scoring leader in the tournament and had five goals more than second-place Manuel Ferreria (Argentina) and Adolfo Baloncieri (Italy).
Pedro Petrone (Uruguay)
Uruguayan striker Pedro Petrone also scored 11 goals in the Olympics, including seven in the 1924 Games in Paris. He was the tournament scoring leader and helped Uruguay win its first of back-to-back gold medals. He scored once in the team’s 3-0 gold medal win against Switzerland.
Gottfried Fuchs (Germany)
Gottfried Fuchs was a German forward who scored all of his 10 career Olympic goals in a 16-0 win against Russia in the 1912 Games. This tied Nielsen’s record for the most goals by a player in an international match set four years prior. The record stood until 2001, when Archie Thompson scored 13 times for Australia in a 31-0 victory over American Samoa.
Kazimierz Deyna (Poland)
Polish attacking midfielder Kazimierz Deyna, who played for Legia Warsaw and the EPL club Manchester City, among others, scored a tournament-leading nine goals in the 1972 Games in Munich and led his country to win the gold medal. He scored one goal in the 1976 Games. Deyna died in a car accident at just 41 years old in 1989.