Serie A: An in-depth look at the top five goalscorers

# 1: Silvio Piola (274 goals)

With 274 goals from 537 appearances for Pro Vercelli, Lazio, Juventus and Novara during a prolific career spanning 25 years from the late twenties to the early fifties, Silvio Piola holds the record of most goals in the history of Serie A.

Piola was thrice a Serie A runner-up (once with Lazio and twice with Juventus) and was the top Serie A scorer in two seasons (1936-37 and 1942-43 for Lazio).

He is the second youngest player (23 years) to score 100 Serie A goals, taking 36 days longer than his teammate Giuseppe Meazza to reach the landmark.

Along with Omar Sivori, Piola is the only player to score six goals in a Serie A game. Piola's 10 hat-tricks is third best in the history of the league. Piola is both the youngest (18 years) and oldest (37 years) to score Serie A hat-tricks.

The 1938 World Champions Italy at the unfinished Olympic Stadium of Helsinki on July 20th 1939, only 40 days before the WWII started. A friend of mine has the album with the original photo. #Azzurri @azzurri #SilvioPiola #GiuseppeMeazza #VittorioPozzo @stadionhelsinki pic.twitter.com/V7TEzQ6UPW
— Juha Tamminen (@TamminenJuha) March 19, 2019

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Regarded as one of the best strikers of all time, Piola's versatility allowed him to be deployed on the wings, as a central midfielder or second striker but excelled most as a centre forward.

The only player to be the Serie A top scorer for three different clubs (Pro Vercelli, Lazio and Novara), stadiums at two of his former clubs (Novara and Vercelli) were named after him following his death in 1996.

Action at the Vercelli stadium named after Piola.

About the author

Bhargav is a veteran sports journalist and editor at Sportskeeda, with a rich professional experience of 17 years, working for the likes of Siemens and Bombay Dyeing. An avid football and tennis follower for over three decades, Bhargav uses his vast knowledge and experience, attention to detail, an unbiased yet interesting writing style, and thorough research to craft insightful articles, which have raked in over 18 million reads so far.

Bhargav supports Italy at national level, a team steeped in tradition and history according to him. He still harbors the heartbreak from the Azzurri’s 1994 FIFA World Cup final defeat against Brazil, and protagonist-turned-antagonist from the game, ‘Divine Ponytail’ Roberto Baggio is his all-time favorite player. His favorite manager is Marcelo Lippi, who ended Italy’s 24-year wait for the World Cup trophy, winning it in 2006.

Outside Europe’s top five leagues, he follows the MLS following Lionel Messi’s move in 2023 but favors Cristiano Ronaldo in the G.O.A.T. debate. During his free time, Bhargav enjoys driving off to new places and singing.

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Edited by S Chowdhury