Copa America top 10 goal scorers

Published on

Who are the best scorers in Copa America football competition's history?

10.) Roberto Porta

Roberto Porta
Porta earned 33 caps and scored 13 goals for the Uruguay national football team from 1937 to 1945, he also played 1 match for the Italy national football team in 1935.

Country: Uruguay
Teams: Nacional, Inter, Independiente
Number of goals: 12
Years active: 1937-1945

During his football career, Roberto played for three clubs: Nacional in Uruguay, Independiente in Argentina and Inter in Italy.He was an incredible player and he managed to score 13 goals for Uruguayan national team between 1937 and 1945. In 1935, Roberto played a match for the Italian national team. He also became the Uruguay national football team's coach for some years and saw the team to the FIFA world cup edition in 1974.

9.) Hector Scarone

Hector Scarone
At the age of 19, Hector Scarone scored the goal that gave Uruguay the title at the 1917 South American Championship, in the final against Argentina, his fourth international match.

Country: Uruguay
Teams: Nacional, Barcelona, Inter, Palermo
Number of goals: 13
Years active: 1917-1939

Hector was Uruguayan striker and until 2011 he had remained to be the all-time leading scorer with a record of 31 goals in 52 matches. He spent most of his football career with club Nacional, which managed to win the Uruguayan championship title 8 times.

During his tenure in the club, he scored 301 goals for the club in 369 matches. At the age of only 19 years, he scored a goal for his national team during finals that gave Uruguay the South America champions title in 1917. Uruguay won the South America champions title 4 times between 1917 and 1926 and 2 Olympic gold medals in 1926 and 1928.

8.) Jose Manuel Moreno

Jose Manuel Moreno
Jose Manuel Moreno was the first footballer ever to have won first division league titles in four countries. He was also a member of the Argentine national team that won three South American Championships during the 1940s.

Country: Argentina
Teams: River Plate, Espania, U. Catolica and 5 more teams.
Number of goals: 13
Years active: 1935-1961

Jose Manuel Moreno played as inside forward for several clubs in Argentina and was the first footballer ever who won the first division league titles in four different countries. He was a member of the Argentine national team in the 1940s and the team managed three titles in Copa America during his tenure.Besides he was a member of the River Plate club also referred to as The Machines, which dominated the Argentine football arena in the 1940s.

7.) Jair Ventura Filho

Jair Ventura Filho
Jairzinho finished his career playing for Portuguesa in Venezuela, making it one of the greatest teams in Venezuelan history, helping Portuguesa win a record 16 games in a row and their fourth of five championships.

Country: Brazil
Teams: Fast club, Portuguesa, Olympique De Marseille and 7 others
Number of goals: 13
Years active: 1959-1982

Popularly known as Jairzinho, he was a member of the legendary Brazilian national team that won the FIFA world cup in 1970. He scored in every match that Brazil played hence becoming one of only two players in world cup records that to have scored in each contest. The nick-name Hurricane originated from this match. He also participated in the world cup for three consecutive years in 1966, 1970 and 1974.

6.) Gabriel Batistuta

Gabriel Batistuta
In 1991, Batistuta was selected to play for Argentina in the Copa America held in Chile, where he finished the tournament as top scorer with six goals as Argentina romped to victory.

Country: Argentina
Teams: Internazionale, Al Arabi, River Plate and 4 other teams
Number of goals: 13
Years active:1987-2005

Gabriel remains to be all time Argentina's top goal scorer with 56 goals in 78 matches. He has played three times in world cup and emerged 3rd in the FIFA world player of the year awards in 1999. Gabriel is known to be a prolific striker with all round skills, accurate heading, and striking techniques. He has also set a record in his Italy football club Fiorentina, and he is the 11th top scorer in the Italian Serie A league, having scored 184 goals in 318 matches.

5.) Ademir Marques

Ademir Marques
Ademir enjoyed success in the Copa América. He played in the 1945, 1946, 1949, and 1953 editions of the tournament, scoring 13 goals in 18 appearances.

Country: Brazil
Teams: Sport Recife, Vasco Da Gama, Fluminense
Number of goals: 13
Years active: 1939-1957

Ademir Marques de Menezes is famous in the football history in Brazil for being the best center forward footballer of all times. His exploits in the 1950 world cup that was held in Brazil made him shine. He was awarded the golden boot for being the best scorer during that tournament.Between 1945 and 1953, he set a record in Copa America editions by scoring 12 goals in 18 appearances.Overall, he played 39 games for his country and scored 32 goals.

4.) Severino Varela

Severino Varela Puente
Severino Varela was part of the Uruguay national football team that won the South American Championship, still remaining one of the highest scorer in the history of Copa América with 15 goals.

Country: Uruguay
Teams: River Plate, Penarol, Boca Junior
Number of goals: 15
Years active: 1932-1947

Severino started his football career in 1932. As a striker in the Uruguayan national team, he played on 24 occasions and scored 19 goals within that period. His extraordinary talent as a footballer was thrilling. He was famous as a great header and he never missed penalties. His shooting ability was also amazing. He scored 43 goals during his 3-year tenure in Boca Junior. 16 of the goals were headers, 13 were free kicking shots while the rest were from penalties.

3.) Teodoro Fernandez

Teodoro Fernandez Meyzan
In 1939, Teodoro Fernandez won the Copa America with Peru National Team. He also represented Peru at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.

Country: Peru
Teams: Universitario
Number of goals: 15
Years active: 1931-1953

Famously known as Lolo Fernandez, he played as a striker for his Peruvian team. He was arguably one of the most important players that Peru has ever had. He is remembered for being part of the Peruvian squad that made it to quarter finals during Olympics in 1936. He also emerged as the top scorer and the best player in 1939 tournament in which Peru won the Copa America title.

Fernandez is one player who is known to be most loyal to his club, Universitario de Deportes for which he played in his entire career. His strong shooting ability and excellent center forward play made him be crowned as the Peruvian's league top scorer 8 times.

2.) Norberto Mendez

Norberto Mendez
Norberto Doroteo Mendez played 33 games for the Argentina national football team and won 3 Copa América titles and 3 Primera Division Argentina titles in his career.

Country: Argentina
Teams: Huracan, Racing Club, Tiger
Number of goals: 17
Years active: 1941-1958

Norberto is popularly known for being an all-time top scorer in Copa America tournament with 17 goals. He played as a midfielder in the Argentine national club. His greatest accomplishment is that during his football career he managed to win for his team 3 Copa America titles and 3 Primera Division Argentina titles. Total games played for Argentina National team were 33.

Norberto started his career in club Huracan in 1941 and later moved to Racing Club in 1947 where he helped the club to triple champions by winning the Primera Division Argentina titles in 1949, 1950 and 1951.

1.) Zizinho

Thomaz Soreas da Silva
Zizinho was lauded as a complete player, renowned for his incredible array of offensive skills such as dribbling, passing, shooting with both feet as well as dead ball ability and extraordinary vision.

Country: Brazil
Teams: Flamengo, Bangu, Paulo and 3 more
Number of goals: 17
Years active: 1939-1962

Real name Thomaz Soreas da Silva. He played as an attacking midfielder or winger for his national team.His popularity was boosted during 1950 World Cup where he scored 2 goals for his team helping Brazil to progress to finals. He is popularly known for his incredible talent in dribbling, shooting with both feet, dead ball ability, and his sharp passing skills. Zininho scored 30 goals in 53 matches for his team. He also turned down two invitations to participate in the world cup squad citing that it would not be fair for a player to be dropped to pave a way for him.