Soccer is of course a team sport, with each player needing to perform at the best of their ability for a successful season to be had by their team.
Despite this fact, there are often teams that are led to triumph by a talisman player who scores more goals, makes more tackles, or saves more shots.
Today we will take a look at these leaders and the seasons that they had, to find out what the 9 best soccer seasons ever are.
9. Andriy Shevchenko – 2000/01
- Country: Ukraine
- Club: AC Milan
- Position: Centre-Forward
| Games | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| 51 | 34 | 5 |
Whilst we started this piece claiming that the players within it helped to lead their teams to success, the first man on our list simply saved his club from total humiliation. The 2000/01 Season was a terrible one for AC Milan, they finished 6th in Serie A and never looked like challenging for the Scudetto.
It was the same story in Europe, as they were eliminated in the Second Group Stage of the UEFA Champions League. Ukrainian legend, Andriy Shevchenko was the shining light during this abysmal campaign though.
The striker scored a total of 34 goals in all competitions, including 24 in Serie A. for reference, AC Milan scored just 56 goals during their entire league campaign meaning that Shevchenko registered almost half of the teams goals.
The following season was less successful for Shevchenko, as he managed just 17 goals in all competitions as the team returned to the top four of Italian Soccer.
8. Ruud van Nistelrooy – 2002/03
- Country: Netherlands
- Club: Manchester United
- Position: Centre-Forward
| Games | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| 52 | 44 | 7 |
When Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy made the move from PSV Eindhoven to Premier League giants Manchester United, much was already expected from their new man. It was an era of relative lack of success for the Red Devils, with Arsenal proving the strongest for the past few years.
In just his second season in Manchester, Van Nistelrooy would become the lethal striker that he had been brought in to be. The Dutchman scored 25 Premier League goals on his way to beating Thierry Henry to the golden boot.
Manchester United would retake the Premier League title at the end of the season, with Van Nistelrooy also winning the player of the year award in England. In the UEFA Champions League, Van Nistelrooy notched 12 goals in 9 games and would be credited as the finest striker in Europe that year.
7. James Norwood – 2018/19
- Country: England
- Club: Tranmere Rovers
- Position: Centre-Forward
| Games | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| 53 | 32 | 4 |
You will likely have heard of the other players on this list as some are legends of the game that have all played in the topflight of their respective nations league system, I do like to include some curveballs sometimes though and in 7th place is English striker James Norwood.
Norwood played for League 2 side Tranmere Rovers at this point in his career, with the Wirral-based club having just been promoted from the National League (5th tier). Little was expected of the newbies, with their fans simply pleased to be back in the Football League.
What followed was a rather miraculous season in which Norwood became the spearhead. The striker led his team to a 6th place finish and the play-offs that followed, with Tranmere beating Newport County to earn promotion to League 1.
Norwood finished the season with 34 goals in all competitions, making him the top scorer in the whole of English Soccer. His exploits would earn him a move to Ipswich Town the following Summer.
6. Dixie Dean – 1927/28
Embed from Getty Images- Country: England
- Club: Everton FC
- Position: Centre-Forward
| Games | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| 39 | 60 | N/A |
We stay in the North of England (and another former Tranmere Rovers man) for the 6th placed player on our list, Everton hero Dixie Dean. The English striker had the greatest First Division season that there has ever been during the 1927/28 campaign, with him scoring 60 goals throughout the season.
This is a record that remains unbroken to this day and one that is unlikely to ever be matched given the high level of competition that there now is in England. This is the only reason why Dean isn’t higher in this list; the level was a lot lower and as such it may have been easier for a man of his quality to score goals.
In terms of the overall campaign that his club had, Everton had one of the greatest seasons in their history. The Toffees took their 3rd First Division title with Dean at the heart of it all, this success would not last though as the club were relegated just two years later.
5. Lev Yashin – 1962/63 Season
- Country: Russia
- Club: Dynamo Moscow
- Position: Goalkeeper
| Games | Goals Conceded | Clean Sheets |
|---|---|---|
| 27 | 6 | 6 |
The only goalkeeper on our list today, Lev Yashin is arguably one the greatest to have played between the posts. The Russian goalkeeper is famous for donning a flat cap whenever he stepped foot onto the field, making him an icon of the game for decades.
His finest year came in 1962/63 though, as Yashin became the first (and only) goalkeeper to win the FIFA Ballon d’Or award. Yashin was given the nickname the ‘Black Spider’ due to his unbelievable shot-stopping ability, he is said to have saved more penalties than any other goalkeeper in history.
During this campaign, Yashin also shone for the Soviet Union in their 1962 FIFA World Cup campaign. The Soviets managed to top their group which contained a strong-looking Yugoslavia team, before eventually losing to hosts Chile in the Second Round.
4. Robin van Persie – 2012/13
- Country: Netherlands
- Club: Manchester United
- Position: Centre-Forward
| Games | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| 48 | 30 | 15 |
No fanbase like to have their team being accused of being a ‘one man team’, however perhaps Manchester United fans will excuse me for making this statement about their 2012/13 Premier League title-winning season.
Dutch striker Robin van Persie was already one of the finest forwards in the world when he joined the club from Arsenal, but he wanted to win the Premier League before he left England. The Dutchman chose United over their cross-city rivals Manchester City and wanted to prove himself right.
Van Persie would go on to score some of the most crucial goals for Manchester United that year, including a sublime free kick in his first Manchester derby to win the Red Devils the match in the last minute.
United duly took their 20th (and last) Premier League title with van Persie finishing the campaign with 26 goals to his name and winning the golden boot and the player of the year award for Manchester United.
3. Gerd Muller – 1972/73
Embed from Getty Images- Country: Germany
- Club: Bayern Munich
- Position: Centre-Forward
| Games | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| 44 | 54 | 9 |
Undeniably the greatest German and Bundesliga striker to have ever played the game, Gerd Muller takes 3rd spot on our list for his amazing 1972/73 campaign. His Bayern Munich team were at the top of their game during this period, with the Bavarian side the defending champions from the previous season.
Muller had already scored a multitude of goals for the club before the start of this season, but what followed is the stuff of legend in Germany. The striker scored 66 goals in 49 games as Bayern stormed to another West German Bundesliga triumph.
In Muller would also end the campaign as top goal scorer, with 11 goals to his name. Bayern would have to wait until the following season to take the European Cup home with them though, as they were eliminated by eventual winners Ajax at the Quarter-Final stage.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo – 2011/12
- Country: Portugal
- Club: Real Madrid
- Position: Centre-Forward
| Games | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| 55 | 60 | 15 |
After spending a few years in Madrid by this point, Cristiano Ronaldo had truly become the ‘CR7’ that he was destined to be. The 2011/12 season was his best in the white shirt of Real Madrid.
Ronaldo would have the greatest campaign for a Real Madrid player ever, the Portuguese legend scored 46 goals in La Liga and 60 goals in all competitions. Alongside these impressive goal-scoring numbers, Ronaldo also managed to get 15 assists to go with them.
These numbers helped Real Madrid to the title in Spain, with ‘Los Blancos’ reaching the 100-point mark and finishing nine points clear of Barcelona in 2nd. It was a truly amazing season that could only be matched by one man…
I listed all the best seasons in Ronaldo’s career in this post.
1. Lionel Messi – 2011/12
- Country: Argentina
- Club: FC Barcelona
- Position: Right Winger
| Games | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| 60 | 73 | 32 |
Here we are then, the best season that an individual player has ever had in soccer history came in the same league and same season as the 2nd placed man. Lionel Messi had his greatest ever individual season in 2011/12.
The greatest player to have ever stepped foot on a soccer field, the Argentinian would hit an almost unbelievable 73 goals in all competitions, including 50 in La Liga to take the golden boot in Spain. It would not be enough to stop Real Madrid from taking the title though as we mentioned earlier with Barcelona taking 2nd place.
In the UEFA Champions League, Messi would score a further 14 goals as his side reached the Semi-Finals. It was in cup competitions that Barcelona tasted success this year, with them winning the Copa del Rey, Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup.
I listed all the best seasons in Messi’s career in this post.
What do you make of our list? Maybe you know of a player from your team that had an even better season and should be included.
