Category profile
- Dominance
- 78
- Peak
- 82
- Longevity
- 84
- Honours
- 84
- Statistics
- 76
Career timeline · Goals per season
| Season | Goals per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1993 | 8 | |
| 1994 | 12 | |
| 1995 | 10 | |
| 1996 | 3 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 6 | |
| 1999 | 12 | |
| 2000 | 9 | |
| 2001 | 5 | |
| 2002 | 5 | |
| 2003 | 3 | |
| 2004 | 7 | |
| 2005 | 4 | |
| 2006 | 3 | |
| 2007 | 2 | |
| 2008 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 0 | |
| 2010 | 0 |
Data sources
- FIFA
- CAF
- RSSSF career records
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Nwankwo Kanu ranks #161 in Football
Nwankwo Kanu ranks 161st among Football athletes on GOAT Rank and 666th of 2289 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 80.9 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 78, Peak 82, Longevity 84, Honours 84, Statistics 76. Those categories are normalised against the full Football reference universe of 909 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.
The record covers 1993–2012 with 18 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1994, which sets the Peak component at 82. Longevity is the defining strength of the profile at 84 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes african footballer of the year awards 2, champions league titles 1, premier league titles 2, olympic gold medals 1.
Immediately ahead sits Edgar Davids on 81.0, a gap of 0.1 points. Directly behind is Bruce Grobbelaar on 80.9. The position moves whenever the verified record moves: new titles, new seasons or a corrected source all feed straight back into the same formula, and every change is dated on this profile.
Nwankwo Kanu GOAT Score explained
- Dominance78/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Kanu stood above the field while competing. Scored 78/100 against the full Football cohort.
- Peak82/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1994. Scored 82/100.
- Longevity84/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 19 years of competition and 18 recorded seasons. Scored 84/100.
- Honours84/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 84/100.
- Statistics76/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 76/100.
Top Kanu comparisons
Nwankwo Kanu — frequently asked
- Is Nwankwo Kanu the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Nwankwo Kanu ranks 161st in Football with a GOAT Score of 80.9, behind Lionel Messi on 97.0.
- What is Nwankwo Kanu's GOAT Score?
- 80.9 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 78 (25%), Peak 82 (20%), Longevity 84 (20%), Honours 84 (20%), Statistics 76 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Nwankwo Kanu rank all time?
- 666th of 2289 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 161st within Football.
- Nwankwo Kanu vs Edgar Davids: who ranks higher?
- Edgar Davids, on 81.0 against Nwankwo Kanu's 80.9 — a margin of 0.1 points.