Players with a century of goals in more than one country

In more than 120 years of league soccer there are lots of excellent forwards who have scored more than one hundred first level league goals in their career. Generally they did so in their own country, sometimes in a foreign country. Only in seventeen known cases a player scored one hundred league goals in more than one country. This story reveals who those seventeen soccer players are. I’ve divided them into different segments, in ascending order.

100 + 100

Mario Kempes

John Eriksen

First let’s take a look at nine players who scored one hundred league goals in two countries, but didn’t reach the one hundred fifty mark. Eight of these players scored a century of goals in their home country, Denmarks John Eriksen (Roda JC, Feyenoord, Servette, Luzern) is the only one to score 100+ league goals in two foreign countries, the Netherlands and Switserland. In his own country Denmark Eriksen scored another 44 league goals for Odense BK, and he also played one season in the French second division (Mulhouse), scoring 27 goals. 

A few of these mentioned players also managed to score league goals in yet another country:

- Luc Nilis scored one league goal in England (Aston Villa);

- Mario Kempes scored another 48 league goals in Austria, 5 in Chile’s second division and 10 first level goals in Indonesia (as player/coach, already 41 years old);

- Hector Yazalde scored another 23 league goals for Olympique Marseille in France. 

*League 1 is the league in which the player has scored most goals, not necessarily the league in which he started his career. 

Player	Nat.	League 1	Goals	League 2	Goals
John Bosman	NETH	Netherlands	146	Belgium	104
Luc Nilis	BEL	Belgium	143	Netherlands	110
John Hansen	DEN	Italy	139	Denmark	113
Ove Kindvall	SWE	Netherlands	129	Sweden	103
Mario Kempes	ARG	Spain	126	Argentina	111
Hector Yazalde	ARG	Argentina	125	Portugal	104
Kenny Dalglish	SCO	England	118	Scotland	112
John Eriksen	DEN	Switserland	112	Netherlands	102
Vahid Halilhodzic	YUG	Yugoslavia	104	France	101

150 + 100

Only one player collected one hundred league goals in one country, and 150 (or more) in another. Stephane Chapuisat scored 40 league goals in Switserland, before moving to Gemany (Bayer Uerdingen 4 goals, Borussia Dortmund 102 goals). Then he returned home to Switserland and scored another 114 league goals for Grasshoppers Zürich, Young Boys and Lausanne Sports.

Player	Nat.	League 1	Goals	League 2	Goals
Stephane Chapuisat	SWI	Switserland	154	Germany	106

200 + 100

Hugo Sanchez

Four different players managed to score two hundred goals in one league, and one hundred in another. These are all well-known strikers with big reputations. Mexican Hugo Sanchez scored another 28 league goals in the United States, and six in Austria. Three of these players scored their two hundred league goals in a foreign country, Raymond Braine being the only one who was more successful at home (206) than abroad (Czechoslovakia, 120).

Player	Nat.	League 1	Goals	League 2	Goals
Hugo Sanchez	MEX	Spain	234	Mexico	114
Gunnar Nordahl	SWE	Italy	225	Sweden	149
Osvaldo Castro	CHIL	Mexico	210	Chile	136
Raymond Braine	BEL	Belgium	206	Czechoslovakia	120

200 + 150

Argentina is the only country with three players in this list. Kempes and Yazalde are already mentioned, Carlos Bianchi did even better. Bianchi was nearly unstoppable as a striker and he scored 205 league goals in Argentina, all of them for his club Velez Sarsfield. Inbetween he played seven years in France, collecting another 179 league goals. Bianchi ended his career in the French second division, scoring another 8 goals for Stade Reims. As we all,know, Bianchi is also one the most succesful coaches of all time.

Player	Nat.	League 1	Goals	League 2	Goals
Carlos Bianchi	ARG	Argentina	205	France	179

350 + 150

Ferenc Puskas is the number three goal scorer of all time, when it comes down to league goals. In this story, he is my number two. First Puskas banged in the goals in his native Hungary (more than 350!). After the Russian invasion in 1956 he and some team mates fled the country, at first to Switserland. He was banned by the Hungarian FA until October 1958. After that, he started played for Real Madrid. Thirty-one years old already, Puskas still managed to score 156 league goals until his retirement in 1966.

Player	Nat.	League 1	Goals	League 2	Goals
Ferenc Puskas	HUN	Hungary	357	Spain	156

100 + 100 + 100

My number one can’t keep up with the 513 league goals that Puskas scored. But Isidro Langara is the only soccer player ever (at least until now) who scored more than one hundred league goals in three different countries.  He started with 80 goals at top level with Real Oviedo (and another 61 in the second division), before the Spanish Civil War broke out. Langara then played with a Spanish team (Euskadi) in the Mexican league for one year (17 goals) and was picked up by Argentinians San Lorenzo. After little more than three seasons there (110 league goals), Langara got back to Mexico and scored 106 goals in the league with Espana. He returned  home to Spain and Oviedo score another 25 goals in the Spanish competition. That makes Langara king of this story.

Player	Nat.	League 1	Goals	League 2	Goals	League 3	Goals
Isidro Langara	ESP	Mexico	123	Argentina	110	Spain	106

Emmanuel Sanon, World Cup hero from Haiti

His goal at the World Cup of 1974 against Italy was legendary. Emmanuel Sanon, from the small island of Haiti, made Italian defenders look like fools. Sanon played soccer with his heart; he had no sense of strategy– “that’s playing soccer like a robot”. The Haitian Athlete of the Century always took much pleasure in the game, until his untimely death in 2008.

Playing soccer on the island

Emmanuel ‘Manno’ Sanon (born June 25, 1951 in Port au Prince) lost both his parents at a young age. Being a foster child he was brought up by the congregation Salesians of Don Bosco, dedicated to youth care. The Dutch pastor Sjaak Diebels had founded a soccer club for these children, named Don Bosco. Sanon joined this team, and it soon became clear he was the biggest talent of them all. His uncanny ability to score goals, made Don Bosco a serious contender for the national title of Haiti. In 1971 Don Bosco indeed did win the national league.

Qualifying for Germany 1974

At the time, Sanon was already playing for his country. Haiti did come close to qualifying for the World Cup 1970 in Mexico, without Sanon. But enhanced with his Sanon’s scoring abilities, Haiti’s chances for the next World Cup in Germany in 1974 dramatically increased, only being rivaled by Mexico and Trinidad.

First Haiti beat Puerto Rico 7-0 and 5-0, with Sanon scoring three times in both matches. After that, Haiti played in the  final round against Mexico, Trinidad, Guatemala, Honduras  and the Dutch Antilles. Dictator Baby Doc Duvalier paid a large sum of money to ensure home-advantage for the Haitian soccer team. They started well, winning 3-0 against the Dutch Antilles, with Sanon scoring twice. After that, Trinidad was beaten 2-1 (one goal by Sanon), just as Honduras (1-0). That gave them six points, two ahead of Mexico and four ahead of Trinidad. On December 13, 1973, Sanon scored both goals against Guatamala (2-1). One day later Trinidad defeated Mexico 4-0, which made Haiti out of reach for both Mexico and Trinidad. 

Preparations in the Netherlands

So the big adventure could begin for Sanon and his teammates. The Haitian soccer association decided to prepare for the World Cup in the Netherlands. In the last Month before the tournament Haiti first won against Dutch top level club Go Ahead Eagles 1-0 (the goal coming from Sanon, obviously), but the team lost against AZ’67 1-3 and against the Dutch National Military Team 1-4. Sanon made one goal against a regional selection which Haiti won 3-1, but the faith must have vanished completely after Haiti lost 4-0 against a selection of amateur players from the small Dutch town of Leiden.

Famous goal against Italy

So now everyone was expecting Haiti to lose big time during this World Cup. Their first opponent was Italy, silver medalist of the previous tournament.  Before the match on June 15 in Munich Italian goalkeeper Dino Zoff has set a new record, staying undefeated in more than twelve international matches in a row (1096 minutes). Haiti manages to finish the first half without any damage, 0-0. Then, in the first minute after the break, Sanon runs after a long ball, beats Fabio Capello on speed, gets past Zoff and puts the ball in the net. Zoffs record ends after 1142 minutes. Shortly after the goal Gianni Rivera puts Italy level, and eventually the big favorite wins 3-1.

Four days later Poland gives Haiti no chance at all, winning 7-0.  Now the team can’t reach the next round anymore, and only the match against Argentina remains ending  4-1 in favor of the South-Americans, but not before Sanon scores his second goal; a fierce shot from outside the box.

Contract in Europe

So, Haiti didn’t perform as bad as everyone feared, and they gained a lot of sympathy. Of course, for most players the level was too high. Goalie Henri Francillon arrogantly considered himself the best of the tournament. He got signed by German second division club München 1860, but failed to perform to expectation, and quite disillusioned returned home one year later. Big star Sanon did much better. On June 25 (his 24^th birthday) he was given a contract by Belgium club Beerschot.

Emmanuel Sanon, standing third from the left, next to
Henri Francillon (in the blue shirt).

Problems at Beerschot

So now Sanon lived in Antwerp, in a small apartment close to the Olympic Stadium. He and his wife lived a rather boring life, feeling a bit lost in their new surroundings. On top of that, Sanons career at Beerschot failed to live up to his expectations. Belgium defenders were rough on him, and tactically he didn’t understand what the team needed from him. Besides, he thought most of the players in Belgium lacked the elegance and talent to be any good, with the exception of his teammate Juan Lozano, Beerschot’s playmaker.

Fortunately, coach Rik Coppens, a big soccer star of his own time, considered Sanon very talented. So he tried getting him used to the roughness of the game in Europe. Coppens made Sanon into a defender, forcing him to make tackles himself and clash with forwards. It worked wonders. After that, Sanon returned to the upfront position and began to score and provide goals.

Meanwhile, he also tried to get Haiti into the World Cup in Argentina, in 1978. In the second round Haiti defeated Cuba 1-1, 1-1 and finally 2-0, with Sanon scoring all of the goals. During the final round Haiti was no match for Mexico.

Sanon wins Belgian Cup

Despite his troubled start, Sanon scored a total of 43 league goals and was instrumental in the Cup final of 1979. Against Club Brugge, Sanon rushed past all his opponents and gave teammate Johan Coninckx an opportunity he couldn’t miss. It was the only goal of the match, crowning Beerschot Belgian Cup winner.  One year later his time in Belgium came to an end. Big club RSC Anderlecht was looking for someone to replace Rob Rensenbrink and had their eye on Sanon.  Negotiations started, but along the way something went wrong. Sanon blamed Beerschot and decided to leave.

Happy in San Diego

The Haitian striker took the plane to Miami –close to Haiti - where he played in the second division with Miami Americans. Within a month Sanon changed clubs, and together with his coach Ron Newman tried his luck at San Diego Sockers. That worked well, Sanon scored 10 goals that season and the situation even improved, when San Diego contracted a young Mexican, Hugo Sanchez. Together they were lethal. After a satisfying second year Sanon got a serious knee injury and had to quit professional soccer at the age of 31.

Life after soccer

Emmanuel Sanon started a new life as coach, mainly involving himself with youth soccer. For a short period, 1999 until 2000, he was coach of the national team of Haiti, but failed to get to the World Cup in Japan and South Korea. Nonetheless, he did get awarded the title of “Haitian’s Athlete of the Century” in 1999.

Working as a coach for the Ajax Orlando youth team in Florida, Sanon was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He died on February 21, 2008, at the age of 56. Back in Haiti the beloved Sanon was given a national burial ceremony at the Sylvio Cator Stadium, with his teammates from the 1974 Haitian national team, carrying his coffin onto the field.