Kenya international Michael Olunga has been ranked 22 in the IFFHS Men’s World Best Global Goal Scorer 2023 won by Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo.

The 29-year-old Olunga managed a total of 35 goals for both Qatari outfit Al Duhail and Kenya and stayed 19 goals shy of leading scorer Ronaldo, who banged 54 for Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr and the Portuguese national team.

According to the statistics, the Harambee Stars captain scored 24 goals in the Qatar Stars League, two in NC, six in the Asian Champions League, and three for Kenya’s Harambee Stars.

So far this season, Olunga has managed seven league goals for Duhail from eight appearances. However, his quest for more goals suffered a blow after he picked a hamstring injury during Duhail’s Asian Champions League 2-1 win against Iranian side Persepolis on December 5.

Olunga’s absence has seen Duhail struggle to win their last matches – starting with a 1-1 draw against Qatar SC, a 3-1 defeat against Al Sadd, a 3-2 defeat against Al Wakrah 5-2 defeat against Al Ahli both in the league and 3-1 defeat against Al Arabi in the Qatari Stars Cup.

Olunga joined Duhail from Japanese outfit Kashiwa Reysol in the 2020-21 campaign, and in his first season (which he played halfway), he scored two goals from nine appearances. However, in the 2021-22 campaign, the former Gor Mahia striker finished as the top scorer with 24 goals from 20 matches.

Olunga’s last goal for Kenya in 2023 came in the World Cup qualifying Group F fixture against Seychelles which Harambee Stars won 5-0. Before that, he had gone for six matches without finding the back of the net, his last coming in the 2-1 friendly defeat against Iran on March 28.

Meanwhile, to win the award, Ronaldo left behind Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane and Paris Saint Germain’s Kylian Mbappe, who amassed 52 goals each. Kane and Mbappe went on vacation quite early, when Ronaldo still had three games left and he took the advantage to score two more goals.

Mbappe, the 2022 winner, got the second place in the final ranking due to the tie-breakers. With the same number (13) of international goals between him and Kane as well, Mbappe was ranked higher thanks to a larger number of goals for the national team (10 against Kane’s nine).

Erling Haaland, who was leading the race with a month to go, missed almost the entire Manchester City program in December due to injury and was left out of the podium as a result.

Ronaldo has now won nine IFFHS annual awards, the previous ones coming in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019 (World’s Best International Goal Scorer) and in 2014, 2015, 2020 (World’s Best Top Division Goal scorer).