Gabriel Batistuta All-time Top Scorer

Lore & Background

Batistuta played most of his club football with Serie A club Fiorentina in Italy. When Fiorentina was relegated to Serie B in 1993, Batistuta stayed with the club and helped them return to the top-flight league a year later. He became an icon in Florence; the Fiorentina fans erected a life-size bronze statue of him in 1996. Despite winning the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italiana with the club in 1996, he never won the Serie A title with Fiorentina. He moved to Roma in 2000 for €36 million – the highest fee ever paid for a player over the age of 30 until Cristiano Ronaldo moved from Real Madrid to Juventus in 2018 – and won the 2000–01 Serie A title. After a brief loan spell with Inter Milan in 2003, he played his last two seasons in Qatar with Al-Arabi before he retired in 2005.

In Their Own Story

The floodlights at Franchi hummed against the humid Tuscan night as Batistuta received the ball on the edge of the box. The crowd roared, a single voice rising in anticipation. He didn't look up; he simply struck the leather with his right foot, sending it sailing over the wall and into the net. As he slid across the grass, arms outstretched, the stadium erupted in a purple sea of celebration, knowing that once again, their King had delivered.

Reader's Guide

Batistuta is Fiorentina's all-time top scorer in Serie A with 151 goals. He scored 207 goals for Fiorentina in all official competitions. He never played for Inter Milan.

Did You Know?

• Batistuta is the only player in football history to score two hat-tricks in different World Cups.
• He was Argentina's all-time leading goalscorer with 56 goals in 78 official matches until surpassed by Lionel Messi on 21 June 2016.
• Batistuta scored 10 goals in three FIFA World Cups, making him Argentina's second top scorer in the competition after Messi.
• He won two consecutive Copa América titles (1991 and 1993) with Argentina.