The Champions League for women is the exhibition for the best players in European football and beyond.
The competition only started in 2001, and during the last two decades, some of the game’s biggest goal players have graced the competition. The question is, who are the ones who have shone the brightest and found the back of the net the most?
Without further ado, here are the players who top women’s Champions League goal scorers all the time.
Grings was a goal scorer for club and country | Boris Streubel / Getty Images
Half of Germany’s terrible nectar partners with Birgit Prinz, Inka Grings’ spent most of her career being extremely loyal to her first senior side Duisburg. She joined the club as a teenager in 1995 and therefore did not play Champions League football until Duisburg made its European debut during the 2008/09 season – 30 years.
Despite this, Grings still scored 38 Champions League goals in just 29 games. She never won the competition, but was the tournament’s top scorer during the 2010/11 season.
Ljungberg spent his entire career in Sweden Ezra Shaw / Getty Images
The former Swedish international Hanna Ljungberg was an integral part of the Umeå side who reached five Champions League finals in seven years – and was twice named European Champion.
She topped the goal scorers during Umeå’s Champions League victory in 2002/03 and was the competition’s top scorer of all time for a decade, despite the fact that her career was constantly disrupted and eventually ended in injury. A broken ACL forced her to call it quit at age 30.
Burger only played in the Champions League quarter-finals once, but is still the competition’s eighth top scorer | Catherine Ivill – AMA / Getty Images
Austrian striker Nina Burger became the first player to score 40 Champions League goals with a single club and reached over two spells with Austrian outfit Neulengbach.
She boasted of an average strike partnership with compatriot Maria Gstottner, and the striker reached his 40-goal mark despite Neulengbach only going further than the 16s at one point.
Schelin is three times Champions League winner | AFP / Getty Images
Sweden’s top scorer of all time, Lotta Schelin, rejected offers from the United States to join Lyon in 2008, and she continued to score 41 European goals and win a hat-trick for Champions League titles with the French side.
After scoring 225 goals in 225 appearances for Lyon, Schelin returned to his home country Sweden for the last two years of his career. She signed for Rosengard and scored a final Champions League goal in the 2016/17 competition.
Abily was an integral part of Lyon’s long-standing success ADRIAN DENNIS / Getty Images
Despite spending much of her midfield career, Camille Abily still scored a total of 43 Champions League goals during her time with Montpellier and two spells with Lyon. She was the joint top scorer in the competition 2011/12 together with teammate Eugenie Le Sommer with nine goals.
The former France international scored his 43rd goal in the competition from the bench in the final victory 2017/18 over Wolfsburg to seal his fifth Champions League title.
Marta is a bit of an icon | Simon Hofmann / Getty Images
The Brazilian icon Marta ran onto the Champions stage as an 18-year-old in Umeå and netted in both legs in the semi-final 2003/04 and three more over the two-legged final win over Frankfurt.
This would be the first and only time that Marta would lift the famous trophy. She was a battered finalist in 2007 and 2008 with Umeå, and then again in 2014 with Swedish-Swedish outfit Tyreso. The forward’s 46 Champions League goals have come despite having played over half of her career outside of Europe.
Le Sommer is no stranger to Champions League success Clive Brunskill / Getty Images
Lyon have royally dominated European football over the past decade, winning the Champions League seven times in ten years.
Eugenie Le Sommer has been present for every triumph since joining the club from Stade Briochin in 2010. The versatile French attacking midfielder has scored in three finals – including the opening goal in Lyon’s latest triumph over Wolfsburg in the 2019/20 competition. Le Sommer still plays at the highest level and has half a century in the Champions League in sight.
Pohlers retired in 2014 as a four-time winner of the Champions League | Jan Kruger / Getty Images
World Cup winner Conny Pohlers on 14 goals during the 2004/05 season on her way to Turbine Potsdam who won the competition stood as a female Champions League record goal in a single campaign for 13 years.
The German striker is a four-time Champions League winner, scoring three goals in the 2008 final for Frankfurt and collecting consecutive winning medals with Wolfsburg during the last two seasons of her career in 2013 and 2014. She reached her number of 48 goals in only 45 appearances.
Mittag played in Sweden, Germany and France Alex Caparros / Getty Images
World Cup winner Anja Mittag became the first player in Women’s Champions League history to score half a century of goals in the competition when she found the net for Rosengard in the 2018/19 competition.
The German forward is a two-time Champions League winner with Turbine Potsdam, netting in the 2005 final, and hung up his boots at the end of the 2019/20 season to focus on his coaching career.
Hegerberg was the hat-trick hero in the final 2018/19 | Daniela Porcelli / Getty Images
This takes mickey a bit, right? The current female Champions League top scorer is only 25, already has five Champions League winning medals and as she leaves, it can set an inaccessible goal in the competition.
Norway’s Ada Hegerberg has netted his 53 Champions League goals in just 50 matches. The forward hit a treble in the final 2018/19 and has topped the competition’s points lists 2015/16 and 2018/19. Her 15 goals in a single season during last season’s competition is a Champions League record for women.
