• Football
  • Boxing
  • UFC
  • Home
  • Football
    • England
    • Transfer News
    • Premier League
    • Champions League
    • Lionel Messi
    • Cristiano Ronaldo
    • EA FC 25
    • Wrexham
  • Boxing
    • Tyson Fury
    • Anthony Joshua
    • Oleksandr Usyk
    • Mike Tyson
    • Jake Paul
    • Logan Paul
  • UFC
    • Dana White
    • Conor McGregor
    • Khabib Nurmagomedov
    • Jon Jones
    • Paddy Pimblett
    • Joe Rogan
  • Other Sport
    • Athletics
    • Formula 1
    • MMA
    • Motorsport
    • NBA
    • Darts
    • NFL
    • Snooker
    • Wrestling
    • Tennis
    • Cricket
    • Golf
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube
The 40 Players With The Most Assists In The 21st Century Named

Home> Football

Updated 22:44 2 Jul 2022 GMT+1Published 15:43 2 Jul 2022 GMT+1

The 40 Players With The Most Assists In The 21st Century Named

To the surprise of many, Cristiano Ronaldo comes in second place.

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare

The 40 players with the most assists in the 21st century have been named, with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Dusan Tadic featuring in the top 10 list.

Earlier this year, Ronaldo became football's all-time top goalscorer after scoring a hat-trick for Manchester United in their 3-2 win against Spurs, breaking Josef Bican's previous record of 805 goals.

For many, the former Real Madrid and Juventus forward will go down as the greatest goalscorer in the history of the game, but what about his often understated playmaking ability?

Advert

Image credit: Alamy
Image credit: Alamy

It may surprise a few readers to see Ronaldo's name so high up in the assist charts.

The 37-year-old, who has made 1,124 apearances in his trophy-laden career, has recorded 273 assists in total, meaning he ranks in second place on the 'best passers of the 21st century' list by the guys over at PopFoot.


Here is the 40 players with the most assists in the 21st century:

Advert

40. Dimitri Payet – 153 assists

39. Juan Roman Riquelme – 156 assists

38. Francesco Totti – 158 assists

37. Alexis Sanchez – 162 assists

Advert

36. Kaka – 162 assists

35. Mbark Boussoufa – 162 assists

34. Robinho – 163 assists

33. Robert Lewandowski – 165 assists

Advert

32. Eden Hazard – 165 assists

31. Arjen Robben – 165 assists

30. Wesley Sneijder – 165 assists

Image credit: Alamy
Image credit: Alamy

Advert

29. Ronaldinho – 165 assists

28. Mathieu Valbuena – 166 assists

27. Ricardo Quaresma – 171 assists

26. Christian Eriksen – 171 assists

25. Andres Iniesta – 172 assists

24. Frank Lampard – 173 assists

23. David Beckham – 174 assists

22. Wayne Rooney – 175 assists

21. Steven Gerrard – 175 assists

Image credit: PopFoot/Twitter
Image credit: PopFoot/Twitter

20. Thierry Henry – 185 assists

19. Ryan Giggs – 186 assists

18. Hulk – 189 assists

17. Franck Ribery – 196 assists

16. Karim Benzema – 202 assists

15. Dani Alves – 203 assists

14. David Silva – 203 assists

13. Xavi Hernandez – 207 assists

12. Dries Mertens – 212 assists

11. Zlatan Ibrahimovic – 221 assists

10. Kevin De Bruyne – 222 assists

Image credit: Alamy
Image credit: Alamy

9. Cesc Fabregas – 230 assists

8. Luis Suarez – 232 assists

7. Thomas Muller – 232 assists

6. Neymar – 233 assists

5. Dusan Tadic – 236 assists

4. Mesut Ozil – 240 assists

3. Angel Di Maria – 252 assists

2. Cristiano Ronaldo – 273 assists

1. Lionel Messi – 331 assists

Image credit: PopFoot/Twitter
Image credit: PopFoot/Twitter

So there we have it. Seven-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi has notched a quite remarkable 331 assists during spells at Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain – a record that will likely go untouched for some time.

In terms of assists-per-game for club and country, Manchester City and Belgium midfielder Kevin de Bruyne comes out on top with an average of 0.36 per 90 minutes.

Neymar and Mesut Ozil are also up there when it comes to assists-per-game, notching an average of 0.35, while that man Messi picks up 0.34 per match.

Image credit: Alamy
Image credit: Alamy

Thoughts on the top 40 list? Any surprises in there?

Let us know in the comments.

Featured Image Credit: Alamy

Topics: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona, Karim Benzema, Mesut Ozil, Neymar, Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Jack Kenmare
Jack Kenmare

Jack is a Senior Journalist who enjoys a long read. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of Football Manager wonderkids from 2005 to the present day, and has interviewed a handful of FM's finest, including Freddy Adu, Supat Rungratsamee and Mika Aaritalo.

X

@jackkenmare_

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

6 hours ago
7 hours ago
  • 6 hours ago

    Thibaut Courtois calls out his own Real Madrid teammates as he makes outrageous claim after PSG defeat

    Real Madrid were eliminated from the Club World Cup following their crushing defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.

    Football
  • 6 hours ago

    Real Madrid fans turn on two players after embarrassing defeat to PSG in FIFA Club World Cup

    Los Blancos were hammered 4-0 by the Champions League winners.

    Football
  • 6 hours ago

    PSG handed Club World Cup final blow as two players immediately banned for Chelsea clash

    Paris Saint-Germain will be without two key players for the Club World Cup final against Chelsea.

    Football
  • 7 hours ago

    Real Madrid star who played in PSG defeat reaches agreement to leave club straight after the game

    The player in question will now move onto pastures new after the FIFA Club World Cup loss.

    Football
  • Fans in disbelief as top 25 players of the 21st century revealed
  • Neymar named the five players in world football who had more technical skill than him
  • Fans are all making the same point about Lionel Messi after Inter Miami are crushed by PSG in Club World Cup
  • The 100 best pro athletes of the 21st century named and ranked with the No.1 pick very controversial