Europa League is the 2nd tier continental club competition. It stands just below the UCL. Although UEL is not that much popular as the UCL, it is also highly viewed all over the world. The Europa League matches are actually held on Thursday nights. However, the competition started it’s journey in 1971. Each season a total of 160 clubs compete in this tournament. But among them, only 48 teams make it through to the main phase. Furthermore, 8 more sides join after the end of the UCL group stage. Nevertheless, Sevilla is the most successful club in this competition history. The Spanish side clinched the title as many as 5 times including a hat-trick glory in between 2014 to 2016. Let’s check the top 10 leading goal scorers in UEFA Europa League.
It doesn’t need mentioning that, so many superstar footballers have played in this league. The warfare has also produced so many talents as well who then went onto shine in the Champions League. Moreover, the competition has seen so many deadly strikers playing in it. Those strikers also entertained the UEL fans with their tremendous skills as well as goals. In this article, we will reveal you the list of the all-time top 10 leading goal scorers in UEFA Europa League.
# Top 10 Leading Goal Scorers in UEFA Europa League (Excluding Qualifying Matches):
| Position | Player’s Name | Clubs | Country | No. of Goals |
| 1st | Klaas-Jan Huntelaar | Heerenveen, Ajax, Schalke 04 | Netherlands | 34 |
| 2nd | Henrik Larsson | Feyenoord, Celtic, Helsingborg | Sweden | 31 |
| 3rd | Falcao | Porto, Atletico Madrid | Colombia | 30 |
| 4th | Aritz Aduriz | Athletic Bilbao | Spain | 28 |
| 5th | Kevin Gameiro | Strasbourg, Paris Saint-Germain, Sevilla, Atletico Madrid, Valencia | France | 26 |
| 6th | Shota Arveladze | Dinamo Tbilisi, Trabzonspor, Ajax, Rangers, AZ | Georgia | 25 |
| 7th | Jupp Heynckes | Hannover 96, Borussia Mönchengladbach | Germany | 24 |
| 8th | Dimitris Salpingidis | PAOK, Panathinaikos | Uruguay | 23 |
| 8th | Vágner Love | CSKA Moscow, Beşiktaş | Brazil | 23 |
| 9th | Jermaine Defoe | West Ham, Tottenham | England | 22 |
| 9th | Dennis Bergkamp | Ajax, Inter Milan, Arsenal | Netherlands | 22 |
| 9th | Óscar Cardozo | Benfica | Paraguay | 22 |
| 9th | Karl-Heinz Rummenigge | Bayern Munich, Inter Milan | Germany | 22 |
| 9th | Jürgen Klinsmann | Stuttgart, Monaco, Tottenham | Germany | 22 |
- 8th spot is a tie between 2 players
- 9th spot is a tie between 5 players
Watch More: Top 10 Leading Goal Scorers In Champions League Of All Time
# Now Let’s Discuss Broadly the Top 3 Goal Scorers in the UEL:
3) Falcao:
Falcao is not only the best ever Colombian scorer in the UEL and he is also the best ever Latin American striker in the competition history. He made his UEL debut for Portuguese club FC Porto. The prolific number 9 showed his class and quality mainly in this tournament. Then he joined Atletico de Madrid and continued his superb form for the Spanish giants. However, Falcao scored on 30 occasions in this tournament despite only his 31 appearances. In addition to this, he also netted a qualifying stage goal in his 2 appearances in the pre-group stage phase.
2) Henrik Larsson:
The Swedish forward would have been in the number one spot, if only we would consider the qualifying stage goals as well. One of the best strikers, Sweden has ever produced. Larsson sits on the 2nd position with his 31 strikes from the 44 appearances. He played in the UEL for the first time, for Dutch side Feyenoord. Then he entertained the UEL fans for Scottish Club Celtic. He also wore the Helsingborg jersey during the ending of his career. If you consider the qualifying stage goals, then he will top the list with 40 goals from 56 appearances. That means he scored 9 more goals in the pre-group stage phase.
1) Klass-Jan Huntelaar:
The Dutch superstar tops the list with his 34 goals. He featured in as many as 50 games in the UEL. He made his UEL debut for Heerenveen. Then he appeared for Ajax before finally featuring for the German Bundesliga side Schalke 04. The number nine also played in 2 qualifying stage games but failed to score on those occasions. In fact, he played in 8 different seasons in this competition and has a 0.68 goal per game ratio.
