Homegrown Top Goal Scorers (2008/2009)

In recent years, it has become common for foreign players to lead world leagues in goal scoring, especially in the big leagues of Europe. For instance, last season the four 'big' UEFA leagues were all led by foreign born goal scorers (England; Anelka - Italy; Ibrahimovic - Germany; Grafite - Spain; Forlan).

The fact that the likes of Wayne Rooney, Stefan Kießling, Antonio Di Natale, and David Villa could all potentially lead their home nations in goal scoring this season is a minor miracle based on recent seasons.

I went to Soccerway.com to find out how many world leagues were led by homegrown goal scorers during the last completed season (2008/2009 or 2009 for summer leagues). Not every league listed at soccerway had goal scoring statistics available but this is a fairly comprehensive list. If a nation is not listed, it either had a foreign-born goal leader or the statistics were not available.

I also decided to list if a player has transferred since leading their league in goals. I was interested to know if leading a 'smaller' league in scoring led to moving abroad or to bigger clubs in the same league.

Format:
Country
Goals - Player (Club)
Club Transferred To (If applicable)


Albania
23 - Migen Memelli (KF Tirana)
KS Flamurtari Vlorë (Albania)

Algeria
18 - Mohamed Messaoud (ASO Chlef)

Argentina - Clausura
14 - José Gustavo Sand (Lanus)
Al-Ain (UAE)

Argentina - Apertura
15 - José Gustavo Sand (Lanus)
Al-Ain (UAE)

Australia
12 - Shane Smeltz (New Zealand; Wellington Phoenix)
Gold Coast United (Australia)

Austria
39 - Marc Janko (Red Bull Salzburg)

Bahrain
14 - Abdulrahman Mubarak (Al Riffa)

Brazil
19 - Adriano (Flamengo)
19 - Diego Tardelli (Atletico Mineiro)

Bulgaria
17 - Martin Kamburov (Lokomotiv Sofia)

Chile - Apertura
16 - Esteban Paredes (Santiago Morning)
Colo-Colo (Chile)

Colombia - Copa Mustang I
9 - Teófilo Gutierrez (Junior)
Trabzonspor (Turkey)
9 - Adrian Ramos (América de Cali)
Hertha BSC (Germany)

Colombia - Copa Mustang II
13 - Jackson Martinez (Independiente Medellin)
Jaguares de Chiapas (Mexico)

Costa Rica - Torneo de Invierno
12 - Víctor Núñez (Águilas)

Costa Rica - Torneo de Verano
10 - Mario Camacho (Puntarenas)
10 - Alejandro Sequeira (Ramonense)
Saprissa (Costa Rica)

Croatia
20 - Anas Sharbini (Rijeka)
Hajduk Split

Denmark
16 - Marc Nygaard (Randers)

Estonia
27 - Vitali Gussev (Levadia)
FC Astra Ploieşti (Romania)

Faroe Islands
19 - Finnur Justinussen (Vikingur)

Finland
16 - Hermanni Vuorinen (Honka)

France
24 - André-Pierre Gignac (Toulouse)

Hungary
20 - Péter Bajzát (Györi ETO)
Diósgyöri VTK (Hungary)

Iceland
16 - Björgólfur Takefusa (KR)

Indonesia
28 - Boaz Solossa (Persipura Jayapura)

Iran
19 - Arash Borhani (Esteghlal)

Israel
14 - Shimon Abuhaztera (Hapoel Petah Tikva)
Larissa (Greece)
14 - Barak Itzhaki (Beitar Jerusalem)
14 - Eliran Atar (Bnei Yehuda)

Jamaica
17 - Devon Hodges (Rivoli United)
17 - Roland Dean (Tivoli Gardens)

Japan
20 - Ryoichi Maeda (Jubilo Iwata)

Korea Republic
20 - Dong-Gook Lee (Jeonbuk Motors)

Latvia
30 - Kristapas Grebis (Liepājas Metalurgs)

Lithuania
19 - Valdas Trakys (Ekranas)

Malaysia
14 - Indra Mahayuddin (Kelantan)

Moldova
14 - Gheorghii Ovseannicov (Olimpia)

Northern Ireland
17 - Chris Scannell (Cliftonville)
17 - Curtis Allen (Lisburn Distillery)
Linfield
17 - Mark Dickson (Crusaders)

Paraguay - Apertura
19 - Pablo Velazquez (Rubio Ñú)
Libertad

Paraguay - Clausura
11 - Cesar Caceres (Guarani)

Romania
17 - Gigel Bucur (Timisoara)
Kuban Krasnodar (Russia)

Scotland
25 - Kris Boyd (Rangers)

Slovakia
15 - Pavol Masaryk (ŠK Slovan Bratislava)

Slovenia
17 - Etien Velikonja (Gorica)

South Africa
17 - Eliott Khenyeza (Ajax Cape Town)
Mamelodi Sundowns

Sweden
18 - Tobias Hysen (IFK Göteborg)

Ukraine
17 - Aleksandr Kovpak (Tavriya Simferopol)

USA
17 - Jeff Cunningham (FC Dallas)

Uruguay - Apertura
7 - Emiliano Alfaro (Liverpool)
San Lorenzo (Argentina)
7 - Sergio Gonzalez (Danubio)
Ergotelis (Greece)

Uruguay - Clausura
10 - Jorge Zambrana (River Plate Montevideo)

Venezuela - Apertura
12 - Armando Maita (Monagas SC)
Deportivo Tachira (Venezuela)

Venezuela - Clausura
14 - Juan Enrique Garcia (Zamora FC)
Mineros (Venezuela)

Wales
30 - Rhys Griffiths (Llanelli)