Top 10 Asian goalscorers in UEFA club competition

These players have been one of the best from the continent.

Although most of them are European players, the Champions League has seen players from various countries establish their dominance. And though, over the years, we have also seen other players rise up the ranks and get attention.Asian players have been the second most effective in the league, with players like Son and Kamada displaying their prowess. In this post, we've compiled the best 10 Asian goalscorers in UEFA club competition.

10. Alireza Jahanbakhsh (IRN – AZ Alkmaar, Feyenoord) - 7

the Iranian professional football player who competes for the Iran national team and Eredivisie club Feyenoord as an offensive midfielder and winger.

2014 voting for the second-best young talent in the 2013–14 Eredivisie season went to Jahanbakhsh. Jahanbakhsh became the first Asian player to hold the top-scoring position in a major European league during the 2017–18 Eredivisie season with 21 league goals.

 9. Mehdi Taremi (IRN – Porto) - 9

At FC Porto, Taremi earned his first Primeira Liga championship in the 2021–22 campaign. He contributed 20 goals and 12 assists during the season. That season, he had the second-most goals scored and the third-most assists for playmakers. He also had 18 appearances in the Champions League, where he scored eight goals.

8.  Bum-Kun Cha (KOR – Bayer Leverkusen) - 10

He departed for West Germany and competed for Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer Leverkusen after conquering Asian events, such as the 1978 Asian Games. With two Bundesliga clubs, he scored 121 goals overall and won the UEFA Cup with each squad.

7. Takumi Minamino (JPN – Salzburg, Liverpool) - 11

Minamino started his club career in 2012 at J.League Division 1 team Cerezo Osaka, where he won J.League Debut of the Year honours. He made the move to the Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg in 2014, where he enjoyed four productive seasons. After making some standout performances for the team, he left and joined Liverpool on January 1, 2020, where he won the Premier League in his first year. His 15 Champions League outings and two goals have all been for Liverpool.

6. Shinji Kagawa (JPN – Borussia Dortmund, Manchester United) - 11

He represents J1 League for Cerezo Osaka as a midfielder. One of the greatest Japanese players of all time, he is highly recognised. Before joining Borussia Dortmund in 2010, he started his professional career in his native country with Cerezo Osaka. Kagawa signed a four-year deal with Manchester United after spending two years at Dortmund. Two years later, he visited Dortmund once more. Kagawa holds the record for the most appearances and the most goals scored in UEFA club competitions by a Japanese player.

5. Hee-Chan Hwang (KOR – Salzburg, Leipzig) - 11

The South Korean professional football player who competes for both the South Korean national team and Premier League Club Wolverhampton Wanderers as a forward.

Hwang's strong playing style has earned him the moniker "Bull" in South Korea. The Korean word for a bull, Hwang, was a play on his last name. The 27-year-old has only appeared nine times in the Champions League and has scored three goals.

4. Sardar Azmoun (IRN – Rubin, Rostov, Zenit, Leverkusen) - 13

Azmoun is the second-most valuable Iranian player in history, behind Alireza Jahanbakhsh. His goal in a UEFA Champions League match made him the youngest Iranian ever.

Azmoun, a forward for the Iranian national team and Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen, In his 23 games, the player has six goals to his credit.

3. Daichi Kamada (JAP – Eintracht Frankfurt) - 14

Considering that he netted in three straight games against Tottenham (3-2), Marseille (2-1), and Sporting CP, Kamada was crucial in helping Eintracht advance to the last 16 of the Champions League for the first time in their existence (1-2). Sevilla and other European powerhouses have been pounding on his door, but Eintracht doesn't want to lose him.

2. Maksim Shatskikh (UZB – Dynamo Kyiv, Arsenal, Kyiv) - 23

Shatskikh was able to play nine UEFA Champions League seasons with Kyiv, scoring 11 goals and has had the most productive season of his career this year, leading Dynamo Kyiv's scoring statistics with 22 goals.

Three UEFA Champions League goals were also scored during the 2002–2003 season, despite Kyiv's failure to advance past the group stages.

Since joining Kyiv in 1999, Shatskikh, a deft forward and reliable scorer, has proven to be a wise acquisition. A graduate of the Tashkent football academy, he played for five different league clubs during his first four years of professional football before settling in Kyiv as Andrei Shevchenko's long-term successor.

1. Heung-Min Son (KOR – Bayer Leverkusen, Tottenham Hotspur) - 29

The Tottenham player broke the record by scoring twice in the first ten minutes against Manchester City.

Son Heung-min, a standout for Spurs, scored two goals in as many minutes against Manchester City to surpass all other Asian scorers in Champions League history.

Raheem Sterling scored City's fastest-ever Champions League goal only three minutes and 51 seconds into the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinal on Wednesday, handing Tottenham a 1-0 defeat.

But, Tottenham's South Korean star scored twice in the final ten minutes to give his team the lead.