Rogerio Ceni, Rene Higuita … Six highest-scoring goalkeepers in history who’ve more goals than some strikers
By Victor Akuma
Seeing goalkeepers netting goals in football is an uncommon one. It is even more interesting when some of them see the back of nets of their opposing teams than their own strikers in a season.
Below are six most exciting goal-keepers who have proven that apart from mounting the goal post, they still would have been much useful in the field of play.
1. Rogerio Ceni
Ceni netted 131 career goals across his 23-year career, scoring 47 goals alone between 2005 and 2007, while someone like Emile Heskey of Birmingham, an actual striker scored 13 goals during the same period.
2. Jose Luis Chilavert
Chilavert holds the record for being the only goalkeeper to score a hat-trick, with the Paraguayan’s eight international goals also unmatched.
Chilavert scored 10 goals in 35 games for Velez during the 1997/98 season, a remarkable feat by a goalkeeper.
3. Jorge Campos
Jorge Campos has a total number of 80 goals in his career. He scored 40 goals in the Mexican league: 39 for Pumas UNAM and one more for Atlante. He never scored while playing for his National team.
However, it is noteworthy that he scored all of his goals while playing as a striker, never as a goalkeeper.
4. Dimitar Ivankov
Ivankov played 64 times for the Bulgarian national team. He was always spectacular in penalties.
One of the favourite moments in his career was a 95th minute winner against Fenerbahce and the time he slotted two penalties in a Turkish Cup final shootout win for Kayserispor, while keeping four out.
5. Rene Higuita
Higuita netted 41 goals in his football career, including a handful for Colombia.
6. Hans-Jorg Butt
Butt has three Champions League goals to his name, and a strike in the German League Cup. He is a specialist in converting penalties.
These great men are goal keepers whose names will live on in the sands of history because of their invaluable contributions to their various clubs even as goalkeepers.
