Clarification: Gerd Müller’s and Filippo Inzaghi’s European Goalscoring Record

By: Jan | December 9th, 2007

A few days ago Setanta reported that Filippo Inzaghi hadn’t one-upped Gerd Müller’s European goalscoring record yet. In fact he was still four goals short of doing so. The article relied on data coming from Opta Sportsdata and claimed that Gerd Müller had in fact scored 66 goals in 74 matches, compared to Inzaghi’s 63 goals in 98 matches. Those numbers were backed up by another article I found on the net.

But, those numbers are incorrect (as reader makki pointed out in my other post). In fact, Gerd Müller’s European club football record is even more impressive, since he also scored three goals in the European Supercup 1976 against Anderlecht. So:

Gerd Müller’s European club football record: 69 goals in 76 matches

Filippo Inzaghi needn’t worry though, because his record is nonetheless perfectly intact. Gerd Müller scored seven of his goals in the 1970/1971 Intercity Fairs Cup. This European club competition was the predecessor of the UEFA Cup and was held for the last time that season. The UEFA doesn’t officially recognise the Fairs Cup. Ergo: 69 goals minus 7 goals equals 62 goals. Thus:

Filippo Inzaghi’s UEFA club competition record: 63 goals in 98 matches.

Now, the Bundesliga Offside isn’t the UEFA, and I do recognise the Fairs Cup as a European club football competition. As such, one record by Gerd Müller still stands. Given the fact that Ronaldo one-upped him as all-time leading World Cup goalscorer last year, this might cheer him up a bit.