Lionel Messi has the most assists in football history, with 428 in official senior matches for club and country. That figure splits into 361 for Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Miami, and 67 for Argentina, and he is still adding to it.
The number behind him belongs to a different era and was arrived at a different way. Ferenc Puskas is credited with 404 from a career that ended in 1966, two decades before anyone recorded an assist as a statistic at all.
The 10 Players With the Most Assists in Football History
| # | Player | Country | Assists | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lionel Messi | Argentina | 428 | 2004-present |
| 2 | Ferenc Puskas | Hungary | 404 | 1943-1966 |
| 3 | Pele | Brazil | 369 | 1956-1977 |
| 4 | Johan Cruyff | Netherlands | 358 | 1964-1984 |
| 5 | Thomas Muller | Germany | 357 | 2008-present |
| 6 | Luis Suarez | Uruguay | 318 | 2005-present |
| 7 | Kevin De Bruyne | Belgium | 316 | 2008-present |
| 8 | Angel Di Maria | Argentina | 278 | 2005-present |
| 9 | Mesut Ozil | Germany | 262 | 2006-2023 |
| 10 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Portugal | 261 | 2002-present |
Four of the ten are still playing, so the order below the top two changes several times a season.
Every Player in the Top 10, in Order
1. Lionel Messi: 428 Assists
Argentina · 428 assists · 2004 to present · Barcelona, PSG, Inter Miami
Messi passed Puskas during the 2025 MLS play-offs and has extended the lead since. His 361 club assists came across more than 1,200 senior appearances, the great majority of them for Barcelona.
He is the only player in the top five whose entire career falls inside the period when assists were logged as they happened, so his total is a count rather than a reconstruction.
2. Ferenc Puskas: 404 Assists
Hungary · 404 assists · 1943 to 1966 · Budapest Honved, Real Madrid
Puskas scored 725 goals and created another 404 across a career split between Hungary and Real Madrid, where he arrived at 31 and won three European Cups.
Nobody counted assists in the 1950s. His total covers the Honved side that supplied most of the Hungary team which went unbeaten for 31 matches, and then six seasons at Real Madrid alongside Alfredo Di Stefano.
3. Pele: 369 Assists
Brazil · 369 assists · 1956 to 1977 · Santos, New York Cosmos
Pele is credited with 369 assists alongside his goals, most of them for Santos during the years when the club toured the world playing exhibition matches between league fixtures.
Santos played well over a hundred matches in some years, touring Europe, Africa and Asia between league fixtures. His totals reflect that volume as much as the creativity behind them.
4. Johan Cruyff: 358 Assists
Netherlands · 358 assists · 1964 to 1984 · Ajax, Barcelona, Feyenoord
Cruyff is the highest-placed player whose reputation rests more on creation than scoring. He is credited with 358 assists across Ajax, Barcelona and a late return to Feyenoord.
He played as a centre forward who dropped deep, a role that barely existed before him and which generated chances that a conventional number nine never would have been in position to make.
5. Thomas Muller: 357 Assists
Germany · 357 assists · 2008 to present · Bayern Munich, Vancouver Whitecaps
Muller spent seventeen seasons at Bayern Munich and holds the Bundesliga record outright with 178 assists since the competition began recording them in 1992.
He described his own position as Raumdeuter, an interpreter of space. It is not a recognised role, and no club has successfully recruited anyone else to play it.
6. Luis Suarez: 318 Assists
Uruguay · 318 assists · 2005 to present · Ajax, Liverpool, Barcelona, Atletico, Inter Miami
Suarez is a striker with 318 assists, which is unusual at this level of the list. Most came at Barcelona, where he played alongside Messi and Neymar.
That front three produced 364 goals between them across four seasons, and a large share of Suarez’s assists went to the player directly above him in this table.
7. Kevin De Bruyne: 316 Assists
Belgium · 316 assists · 2008 to present · Chelsea, Wolfsburg, Manchester City, Napoli
De Bruyne has 316 career assists and sits second on the Premier League all-time list with 119, behind a record that has stood since 2014.
He twice managed 20 Premier League assists in a season, in 2019-20 and again in 2022-23. Only one other player has done it once.
8. Angel Di Maria: 278 Assists
Argentina · 278 assists · 2005 to present · Benfica, Real Madrid, PSG, Juventus, Rosario Central
Di Maria has created chances at Benfica, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus and back at Rosario Central where he started, and for Argentina throughout.
He is third on the Champions League all-time assist list, and he scored in the finals of the 2021 Copa America and the 2022 World Cup.
9. Mesut Ozil: 262 Assists
Germany · 262 assists · 2006 to 2023 · Werder Bremen, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Fenerbahce
Ozil holds the record for the most assists in a single calendar year, with 20 in 2015, set during his Arsenal years.
He recorded 19 Premier League assists in 2015-16, a season total matched only twice since, and did it in a side that finished second.
10. Cristiano Ronaldo: 261 Assists
Portugal · 261 assists · 2002 to present · Sporting, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus, Al Nassr
Ronaldo appears here on the same Opta-style criteria used for Messi, with 261 assists alongside the 979 goals that make him the leading scorer in football history.
He leads the Champions League all-time assist list on UEFA’s own count with 42, ahead of Di Maria on 41 and Messi on 40.
Why Assist Totals Disagree With Each Other
An assist is not defined in the Laws of the Game. It is a statistic kept by data companies and competitions rather than by referees, and the rules for awarding one have never been universal.
- It was not recorded at all before the 1990s. The Bundesliga began collecting assist data in 1992 and the Premier League from its first season the same year. Everything earlier was reconstructed afterwards from match reports.
- Club-only and club-plus-country totals both circulate. Messi reads 361 on the first basis and 428 on the second, and both are correct for what they measure.
- Providers apply different criteria. Whether a pass that takes a deflection still counts, or whether winning a penalty counts, varies between the companies that keep the data.
- The World Cup only made assists official in 1994. They were tracked unofficially at the 1986 tournament and not at all before that.
The result is that four reasonable figures can exist for one player simultaneously. The table above uses official senior matches for club and country, which is the basis most commonly applied to the modern era.
Goalscoring records have the same problem for the same reason, and the podium changes depending on which matches are admitted. That is why the Ballon d’Or record and the assist list disagree about where some careers rank.
Assist Records That Are Officially Recorded
Four competition records sit on data collected as the matches were played, which makes them firmer than any all-time global total.
| Competition | Leader | Assists | Recorded since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Premier League | Ryan Giggs | 162 | 1992 |
| Bundesliga | Thomas Muller | 178 | 1992 |
| La Liga | Lionel Messi | 193 | recorded era |
| Champions League | Cristiano Ronaldo | 42 | 1992 |
Giggs set the Premier League mark across 24 seasons at Manchester United and retired in 2014. Kevin De Bruyne is second on 119 and Cesc Fabregas third on 111, so the record is not under near-term threat.
Muller’s Bundesliga total of 178 is the largest single-competition figure in football, helped by eleven league titles in a row at Bayern. Creating chances is easier in a dominant side, which is also visible in the clubs with the most Premier League titles.
What Counts as an Assist
The criteria matter because they decide whether a player finishes a season on 15 or 19, and they are not the same everywhere.
- The final pass before a goal. This is the core of every definition. The pass has to come from a teammate and lead directly to the goal.
- Deflections usually still count. If a pass is deflected on its way to the scorer and the intent was clear, most providers award the assist to the passer.
- A shot that rebounds does not. If a goalkeeper parries a shot and a teammate scores, the player who shot is generally not credited.
- Winning a penalty is not an assist. Neither is the pass before it, which is why forwards who draw fouls score lower here than their involvement suggests.
- Second assists are tracked separately. The pass before the pass appears in some data sets as a secondary assist and does not count towards these totals.
Set pieces are where the totals build fastest. A corner or free kick headed in is a full assist, and the players who take them accumulate numbers that open play alone would not produce.
That is part of why Muller and De Bruyne sit so high while pure wingers do not. Both took set pieces for the dominant side in their league for a decade.
The Active Players Still Climbing
Four of the top ten are still playing, and the order below second place is not settled.
- Lionel Messi is 24 clear of Puskas and adding assists at Inter Miami, so the gap at the top is widening rather than closing.
- Thomas Muller moved to the Vancouver Whitecaps in 2025 and sits 1 behind Cruyff in fourth, the closest margin anywhere in the table.
- Kevin De Bruyne joined Napoli in 2025 and is 2 behind Suarez, who is also still active at Inter Miami.
- Angel Di Maria returned to Rosario Central, the club where he started, and is the only one of the four playing outside Europe or MLS.
Muller against Cruyff is the one worth watching. A single assist separates fourth from fifth, and the player in fourth stopped playing in 1984.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who has the most assists in football history?
Lionel Messi, with 428 assists in official senior matches for club and country. He passed Ferenc Puskas, who is credited with 404, during the 2025 MLS play-offs.
Who has the most assists in Premier League history?
Ryan Giggs, with 162 assists for Manchester United between 1992 and 2014. Kevin De Bruyne is second on 119 and Cesc Fabregas third on 111.
Who has the most Champions League assists?
Cristiano Ronaldo, with 42 on UEFA’s own count, ahead of Angel Di Maria on 41 and Lionel Messi on 40. The competition has recorded assists since 1992.
Why do assist records vary between sources?
Assists are not defined in the Laws of the Game. Competitions only began recording them in the 1990s, data providers apply different criteria for deflections and penalties, and some totals count club matches only while others add international caps.
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