Memphis Depay Becomes Netherlands’ All-Time Top Scorer

Memphis Depay wrote history on Sunday evening with his 51st international goal for the Netherlands, breaking Robin van Persie’s record of 50 and taking the top spot.

The Corinthians striker equalled Van Persie’s record of 50 international goals with a brace against Malta in June and eagerly searched for a third, but could not find it.

After failing to bag his 51st Netherlands goal against Poland earlier in the week,  Memphis became the lone all-time top scorer by opening the scoring in the World Cup qualifier against Lithuania, acrobatically converting on a cross from Cody Gakpo.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by AfroBallers (@afroballers)

Memphis equalled Wesley Sneijder’s all-time assists record against Poland when he assisted Denzel Dumfries for the 1-0.

Van Persie took the Dutch record on October 11th, 2013, when the Premier League icon bagged a hat-trick in the 8-1 World Cup qualifying win over Hungary. The Rotterdam-born striker broke the record of former Ajax and Barcelona striker Patrick Kluivert, who ended his Oranje career in 2004 with 42 goals.

The Corinthians striker opened his account for the Netherlands at the 2014 World Cup with a famous strike from distance, which earned Oranje a critical 3-2 win over the Socceroos.

Depay, who debuted for the Netherlands under Louis van Gaal during a World Cup qualifier against Turkey in November 2013, added a second goal to his tally in the following group stage match against Chile.

After Robin van Persie retired from international football in 2017, Memphis gradually moved from the left wing to the striker position during a difficult time, as Oranje fell into a hole by missing out on the 2018 World Cup after failing to qualify for EURO 2016.

The positional move paid off soon enough for the former Manchester United forward: in his first 15 Netherlands games as the focal point of the attack, Depay scored eight goals, equalling his tally from his first 35 caps.

Depay wrote history in 2021 by scoring 17 goals in one calendar year – the most for a Netherlands international in a calendar year. Two of those goals came at EURO 2020, his second major tournament with the Dutch national team.

Memphis broke the barrier of 100 Oranje caps during the UEFA Nations League quarter-final tie in and against Spain in March 2025, which the Netherlands lost on penalties. The striker became the tenth player in Dutch history to win a century of caps.