Victor Osimhen career goals: Super Eagles, Wolfsburg, Charleroi, Lille, Napoli, & Galatasaray

Victor Osimhen’s career has taken him from a difficult start in Germany to the top of Italian football, a record-breaking spell in Turkey and a place among Nigeria’s greatest goalscorers, Afrik-Foot reports.

The 27-year-old striker has played for Wolfsburg, Charleroi, Lille, Napoli and Galatasaray, while becoming one of the Super Eagles’ most productive forwards. His numbers tell the story clearly: the goals increased almost every time he moved to a stronger club.

The first European stop was Wolfsburg in Germany. Osimhen joined the Bundesliga club as a teenager in January 2017, but his first spell in senior football was frustrating. He made 16 first-team appearances across two seasons without scoring. A move to Belgium changed everything. At Charleroi, he scored 20 goals in 36 matches in 2018/19, including 12 league goals, and suddenly became one of Europe’s most interesting young strikers.

Lille came next, and Victor Osimhen needed only one season to establish himself in France. He scored 18 goals in 38 matches in all competitions, including 13 in Ligue 1. That campaign brought the Marc-Vivien Foé Award, Lille’s Player of the Season prize and a Ligue 1 Player of the Month award. Napoli then paid a club-record fee for an African player at the time to take him to Italy, where he eventually became Serie A’s leading scorer and helped Napoli win their first league title in 33 years.

Galatasaray has added another remarkable chapter. During his 2024/25 loan spell, Osimhen scored 37 goals in 41 matches and helped the Istanbul club win the Süper Lig and Turkish Cup. He broke Mario Jardel’s record for most goals by a foreign player for Galatasaray in a single season, then moved permanently to the club in 2025. By September 7, 2026, he had scored another six goals in his first four league appearances of the 2026/27 campaign. Across his senior club career, he has now scored 179 goals for his five European clubs, while his Nigeria tally stands at 35.

Victor Osimhen’s goal trail

Wolfsburg: 0 goals, but the first European step

Osimhen joined VfL Wolfsburg in January 2017 after his spectacular 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup campaign with Nigeria. He was still a teenager and faced a major adjustment to German football.

His Wolfsburg record was modest:

• Appearances: 16
• Goals: 0
• Bundesliga goals: 0
• DFB-Pokal goals: 0

Wolfsburg did not bring Osimhen a major individual award or trophy. More importantly, it gave him his first experience of European club football and showed him how difficult the transition from youth football to the senior game could be.

The breakthrough came after he left Germany on loan.

Charleroi: 20 goals and the career-changing season

Charleroi became the place where Osimhen’s scoring ability finally exploded.

He joined the Belgian club on loan in August 2018. His first league start came against Waasland-Beveren on September 22, 2018. He scored his first Charleroi goal in the 19th minute. A month later, against Zulte Waregem on October 21, he scored twice late in the match, in the 85th and 95th minutes, turning the game around.

His full 2018/19 record was:

• 36 matches
• 20 goals
• 12 Belgian league goals
• 1 Belgian Cup goal
• 7 goals in the Belgian European play-offs

Osimhen registered 25 Jupiler Pro League appearances and 12 goals, seven European play-off appearances with four goals, plus additional play-off matches that brought his overall Belgian tally to 20.

Osimhen finished as Charleroi’s leading scorer and was named the club’s Player of the Season. His 20-goal campaign also attracted attention from major European clubs and earned him a place in Nigeria’s squad for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

Osimhen had gone from zero goals in Germany to 20 in Belgium in one season.

Lille: 18 goals and the Marc-Vivien Foé Award

Lille signed Osimhen in 2019, and he immediately became one of the most dangerous young forwards in Ligue 1.

He scored 18 goals in 38 matches in 2019/20:

• Ligue 1: 13 goals in 27 matches
• Coupe de France: 1 goal
• Coupe de la Ligue: 2 goals
• Champions League: 2 goals

His first Champions League goal came against Chelsea on October 2, 2019, in a 2-1 Lille defeat.

Osimhen also won the Ligue 1 Player of the Month award for September 2019 after scoring twice and providing two assists during Lille’s five league matches that month. He was later voted Lille’s Player of the Season.

Then came the Marc-Vivien Foé Award. Osimhen was named the 2020 best African player in Ligue 1, beating Monaco’s Islam Slimani and Reims’ Yunis Abdelhamid. At 21, he became the youngest winner of the award. He had scored 13 Ligue 1 goals and supplied four assists in 27 league matches.

That season transformed Osimhen from an exciting Belgian prospect into a major European transfer target.

Napoli: 76 goals and the Scudetto

Napoli signed Osimhen in 2020. His four seasons in Italy produced 76 goals in 133 appearances in all competitions.

His Serie A seasons were:

His European goals added another 11:

• Champions League: 7
• Europa League: 4

That gives him 76 Napoli goals across all competitions.

The defining season was 2022/23. Osimhen scored 26 Serie A goals, won the league’s Capocannoniere award and became the first African player to score 26 times in a single Serie A campaign. He also moved beyond George Weah’s 46 Serie A goals to become the highest-scoring African in the competition at that point, reaching 50 league goals.

Napoli won the 2022/23 Serie A title, their first since 1990. Osimhen scored 26 league goals and added five in the Champions League. His European campaign helped Napoli reach their first Champions League quarter-final. He scored twice against Eintracht Frankfurt in the second leg of the round of 16, including goals in the 45+2nd and 53rd minutes.

His five Champions League goals in 2022/23 put him among the leading scorers in the competition that season.

The awards followed. In December 2023, Osimhen won the CAF African Player of the Year award, becoming the first Nigerian men’s winner since Nwankwo Kanu in 1999. He also scored 10 goals in Nigeria’s AFCON qualifying campaign.

Galatasaray: 65 goals and a record-breaking spell

Osimhen joined Galatasaray on loan in September 2024. His first season in Turkey was spectacular.

In 2024/25 he scored:

• Süper Lig: 26
• Turkish Cup: 5
• Europa League: 6
• Total: 37 goals in 41 matches

Galatasaray won the Süper Lig and Turkish Cup, completing a domestic double. Osimhen scored twice in the Turkish Cup final against Trabzonspor, finding the net in the 46th and 63rd minutes of the 3-0 victory at Gaziantep Stadium on May 14, 2025.

He also scored in the league title-clinching victory over Kayserispor at RAMS Park on May 18, 2025. Galatasaray won 3-0 and secured their 25th Turkish league title, becoming Turkey’s first five-star club.

Osimhen’s 37-goal season broke Mario Jardel’s Galatasaray record of 34 goals in 2000/01. The Nigerian had already reached 35 goals after his two-goal Turkish Cup final performance.

His six Europa League goals also made him Galatasaray’s leading scorer in that competition.

He signed permanently in July 2025 and added another 22 goals in 33 matches during 2025/26, including 15 in the Süper Lig and seven in the Champions League. Galatasaray won another league title. Osimhen was also voted Süper Lig Player of the Season for 2025/26, giving him the award in consecutive seasons.

Then came the start of 2026/27. Osimhen scored six goals in his first four Süper Lig appearances, including two goals against Başakşehir on September 4. That took his Galatasaray total to 65 goals.

Super Eagles: 35 goals and two away from Yekini

Osimhen’s Nigeria career began with an explosion at youth level, but his senior international record has also become historic.

As of September 7, 2026, he has scored 35 goals for the Super Eagles. That leaves him two goals short of Yekini’s 37-goal mark, a record that had stood unchallenged for 28 years.

His major Nigeria milestones include:

• 2019: senior debut
• 2021: became a central figure in Nigeria’s attack during World Cup and AFCON qualifying
• 2023 AFCON qualifying: scored 10 goals, finishing as the qualifying campaign’s top scorer
• 2023 AFCON: helped Nigeria reach the final
• 2023: won the CAF African Player of the Year award
• 2026: reached 35 senior international goals

Osimhen’s 16 Champions League goals, makes him Nigeria’s all-time leading scorer in the competition. His 16 have come with Lille, Napoli and Galatasaray.