Ligue 1's all-time top scorer isn't a household name outside France, and he hasn't played a competitive match since the 1980s. Delio Onnis still holds the record, comfortably clear of every superstar who's come through French football since, Kylian Mbappé included. Here's the full all-time list, and the unusual story behind the man at the top of it.

The all-time top 10

Rank	Player	Goals	Appearances
1	Delio Onnis	299	449
2	Bernard Lacombe	255	497
3	Hervé Revelli	216	389
4	Roger Courtois	210	288
5	Thadée Cisowski	206	286
6	Roger Piantoni	203	394
7	Kylian Mbappé	191	246
8	Joseph Ujlaki	190	438
9	Fleury Di Nallo	187	425
10	Carlos Bianchi	179	220

Delio Onnis, the forgotten record holder

Onnis was born in Italy but moved to Argentina before he was three years old, grew up playing there, and represented the Argentina national team, all while carrying an Italian nickname among Argentine teammates: "El Tano," the Italian. He began his career at Argentine clubs Almagro and Gimnasia La Plata before moving to France in 1971, first with Stade de Reims and then, from 1973, with AS Monaco, where he stayed until 1980. He scored 223 of his 299 Ligue 1 goals at Monaco alone, still that club's all-time record scorer, and helped them win the 1977/78 Ligue 1 title and the 1979/80 Coupe de France. He topped the French goal-scoring charts five separate times, a total matched by very few players in the league's history, yet he remains far less known internationally than several players well behind him on this very list.

Kylian Mbappé's rapid rise to 7th

Mbappé needed only 246 Ligue 1 appearances to reach 191 goals, by far the fastest goals-per-game rate of anyone in the current top 10 and one that would have put him on pace to eventually threaten Onnis's record had he stayed in France longer. He won seven Ligue 1 titles overall, one with Monaco in 2017 and six straight with Paris Saint-Germain, and was Ligue 1's top scorer for six consecutive seasons between 2018/19 and 2023/24, a record no other player has matched. He was also named Ligue 1 Player of the Season five years running, from 2019 to 2024, before his move to Real Madrid in the summer of 2024 ended his Ligue 1 career at 191 goals rather than whatever higher number a few more seasons might have produced.

Bernard Lacombe, the closest challenger

Lacombe's 255 goals came almost entirely across spells at Lyon, Bordeaux and Saint-Étienne between 1969 and 1987, making him the only player besides Onnis to clear 250 in Ligue 1's history. He won 38 caps for France, played at the 1978 and 1982 World Cups, and was part of the France squad that won the 1984 European Championship on home soil, beating Spain in the final. After retiring as a player, he built a long second career in coaching and club management, including a lengthy spell in charge of his hometown club Lyon through the late 1990s. He died in June 2025 at age 72, and is still remembered in France as one of the most complete forwards of his generation, someone who combined pure goal-scoring with real service to the national team.

The rest of the top 10

Hervé Revelli's 216 goals came mostly at Saint-Étienne during the club's golden era in the 1960s and 70s, when Les Verts won seven league titles and Revelli remains the club's all-time leading scorer to this day. For part of that run he played alongside his younger brother Patrick, forming one of French football's best-known sibling attacking partnerships and helping Saint-Étienne reach the 1976 European Cup final, still one of the closest any French club has come to winning that competition. Roger Courtois and Thadée Cisowski both built their totals in the years either side of the Second World War, an era when Ligue 1 seasons often produced eye-catching scoring rates by modern standards. Roger Piantoni was as celebrated for his all-round game as for his goals, representing France at three separate World Cups in the 1950s. Rounding out the list, Joseph Ujlaki and Fleury Di Nallo built long, steady careers mostly for Sochaux and Lyon respectively, while Carlos Bianchi, an Argentine like Onnis, reached 179 goals in just 220 games for Reims and Paris Saint-Germain in the 1970s, one of the best per-game rates anywhere on the list. Bianchi went on to an even more famous second career after his playing days ended, becoming the only manager in history to win the Copa Libertadores, South America's equivalent of the Champions League, four separate times, once with Vélez Sarsfield and three times with Boca Juniors.

Why the record has stood since the 1980s

Part of the reason nobody has caught Onnis in over 40 years is structural. Ligue 1 has increasingly become a selling league, where a young star who starts scoring heavily tends to attract offers from the Premier League, Spain or Italy well before he's played enough seasons to seriously threaten an all-time French record. Mbappé's own move to Real Madrid after seven trophy-laden seasons is the clearest recent example: a player who was scoring at a faster rate than Onnis ever did, but who left the league at 25 with barely two-thirds of the goals needed to catch him.

Why so many of these names have faded from view

Part of the reason this list feels unfamiliar even to serious football fans is timing. Onnis, Lacombe, Revelli, Courtois, Cisowski and Piantoni all built the bulk of their careers before satellite television turned European football into a globally broadcast product. Domestic French football in the 1950s, 60s and 70s simply wasn't exported and replayed the way the Premier League or Champions League are today, so even genuinely brilliant, prolific careers from that era tend to live on mostly in French football history rather than in the wider global conversation about the game's all-time greats. Mbappé's career, by contrast, was watched live in more countries than any Ligue 1 player before him, which is part of why his total, well short of Onnis's, is still the name most people associate with this list.

How Ligue 1 compares to other leagues

Onnis's 299 is actually the highest all-time record among Europe's top five leagues, ahead of Serie A's 274 (Silvio Piola) and well clear of the Premier League's 260 (Alan Shearer). That's partly a reflection of when these records were set. Onnis played in an era with fewer European competition demands on French clubs and far less squad rotation than today's game, conditions that made a 299-goal career achievable in a way that's become steadily harder to replicate since. Add in the modern trend of French clubs, PSG especially, selling their biggest scorers to Spain or England well before those players approach 300 club goals in Ligue 1 alone, and it's easy to see why this particular record looks safer with each passing season rather than under any real threat.

Catch up on this season's title race in our Ligue 1 2026/27 preview, and see how the list compares elsewhere in our Serie A all-time top scorers and Premier League all-time top scorers guides.

For Ligue 1's official historical records, see Ligue1.com.

FAQ

Who is Ligue 1's all-time top scorer?

Delio Onnis, with 299 goals scored mostly for AS Monaco between 1971 and 1980.

Is Kylian Mbappé Ligue 1's all-time top scorer?

No. Mbappé ranks 7th with 191 goals, well short of Onnis's 299, though he scored at a faster rate than anyone else in the top 10.

How many Ligue 1 top scorer titles did Mbappé win?

Six in a row, from 2018/19 to 2023/24, a Ligue 1 record for consecutive top scorer titles.

Which club did Delio Onnis score most of his Ligue 1 goals for?

AS Monaco, where he scored 223 of his 299 career Ligue 1 goals and remains the club's all-time record scorer.

Who is the second-highest scorer in Ligue 1 history?

Bernard Lacombe, with 255 goals for Lyon, Bordeaux and Saint-Étienne between 1969 and 1987.

Is Ligue 1's all-time scoring record higher than the Premier League's?

Yes. Onnis's 299 is higher than Alan Shearer's Premier League record of 260, and also higher than Serie A's record of 274.

Why has Delio Onnis's record lasted so long?

Modern Ligue 1 stars tend to move to bigger leagues once they start scoring heavily, leaving before they've played enough seasons to threaten a decades-old, 299-goal record.

What happened to Carlos Bianchi after his playing career?

He became a manager and won the Copa Libertadores, South America's top club competition, four times, a record no other coach has matched, split between Vélez Sarsfield and Boca Juniors.

Did Bernard Lacombe play in a World Cup?

Yes, twice, at the 1978 and 1982 World Cups with France, and he was also part of the France squad that won the 1984 European Championship.

Did any brothers both make Ligue 1's all-time top scorers list?

Hervé Revelli, 3rd on the all-time list, played much of his Saint-Étienne career alongside his younger brother Patrick, forming one of French football's best-known sibling attacking pairs, though Patrick himself doesn't rank in the top 10.