Who has the most assists in football?
Discover who has the most assists in football, how assists are tracked across competitions, and which creators top the all-time lists.
Assists should be simple. One player sets up another, the ball hits the net, job done. In practice, it’s rarely that clear-cut.
Unlike goals, assist totals depend heavily on how they’re defined. Some competitions count only the final pass, while others include deflections, rebounds, penalties won, or passes that force an own goal.
In many older matches, assists weren’t even tracked at all, or were logged using much looser rules. That’s why assist records can look wildly different depending on where you check.
The question of who has the most assists in football doesn’t have one neat answer, it depends on what counts.
What is an assist in football?
At its simplest, an assist is credited to the player who makes the final pass before a goal is scored.
In most modern competitions, the pass has to directly lead to the goal without significant defensive intervention. If the scorer has to beat several players or the ball takes a heavy deflection, the assist may not be awarded.
This is where things start to diverge. Certain leagues award assists for winning penalties, but others don’t. Likewise, some include assists for goals that come via deflections or rebounds, while others draw the line much earlier.
The definition sounds straightforward, but it varies a lot between different sources.
Why assist totals differ between sources
Goals are straightforward to record. An assist depends on how the action before the goal is judged.
Data providers like Opta apply strict criteria when awarding assists. The pass needs to be intentional and directly lead to the goal. If a defender significantly changes the ball’s path, the assist may be removed. If the scorer has to regain control or beat multiple players after the pass, the assist often won’t be credited either.
League websites sometimes use broader definitions, like counting assists for winning penalties or include passes that result in own goals. Historical databases rely heavily on match reports, which were never written with assist tracking in mind.
Older era matches didn’t record assists at all, and when they did, the criteria varied widely. That gives modern players an advantage when it comes to recorded totals.
Who has the most assists in football?
Using modern, widely accepted data sources, Lionel Messi is generally credited with the most assists in football history.
Across club and international football, Messi has recorded over 400 assists in recognised competitions, depending on the data provider. His numbers come from detailed match tracking across La Liga, Ligue 1, Major League Soccer, and international tournaments.
Messi’s assist totals are helped by longevity, creative role, and teams built around his passing as much as his finishing. His career has also been played almost entirely in the modern data era, which makes his numbers easier to verify.
Top assist providers in football history
While exact totals vary, the same names consistently appear near the top:
Lionel Messi – 405 assists
Ferenc Puskás – 404 assists
Pelé – 369 assists
Johan Cruyff – 358 assists
Thomas Müller – 352 assists
Luis Suárez – 318 assists
Kevin De Bruyne – 316 assists
Ángel Di María – 313 assists
Cristiano Ronaldo – 305 assists
Luís Figo – 283 assists
Ryan Giggs – 278 assists
Figures correct as of 24 November 2025.
What’s important here isn’t the exact ordering, but the spread. These totals come from different eras, competitions, and definitions. More current players benefited from modern assist tracking, while older ones played long stretches of their careers before assists were recorded consistently.
That’s why lists like this should be read as a guide rather than a definitive ranking.
Messi vs Ronaldo: who has more assists?
By almost every modern measure, Messi has comfortably more assists than Ronaldo.
That difference reflects role as much as ability. Messi has spent most of his career as a creator and finisher combined, operating between midfield and attack. Ronaldo’s game has been more focused on movement, finishing, and attacking the box.
Both players create chances, Messi simply creates more of them for others.
Watch chance creation unfold with Match Bingo
Some of the best passes in football don’t make the highlights.
Match Bingo gives you something to follow beyond the scorer’s name, so you’re not just waiting for the net to ripple. Stick it on alongside the match and see what you start noticing.
Download the app and play along.
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