Top ten hitmen ready to light up Europe as qualifiers kick off.
The qualifying campain for Euro 2016 kicks off on Sunday evening, with national teams having had little time to dwell on their success, or lack of, during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
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With the doors being opened to an extra eight teams for the next tournament, to be held in France, there is plenty to play for from the beginning for more teams than ever before.
There are a number of mouth-watering clashes to kick things off, incuding Scotland’s trip to face world champions Germany, England’s match up with Switzerland in Basel, with Spain also looking to get back to winning ways as they host FYR Macedonia.
Here are 10 strikers who will be looking to be in the race for the qualifying competition’s top scorer award:
Robert Lewandowski (Poland)
Having enjoyed a solid start to his Bayern Munich career after a controversial bosman move from rivals Borussia Dortmund, Robert Lewandowski will be looking to take his club form into his Poland career as they face Gibraltar, who will be playing their first ever qualification match.
Marco Reus (Germany)
After heartbreakingly missing out on Germany’s victorious World Cup campaign due to an injury sustained in a pre-tournament friendly win over Armenia, Borussia Dortmund forward Marco Reus will be keen to make up for lost time – starting when Germany host Scotland.
Aleksandr Kokorin (Russia)
Dinamo Moscow striker Aleksandr Kokorin has become something of a poster boy for Russian football, despite their mediocre World Cup campaign, and may feel that he could fill his boots when Russia kick off their qualifying campaign with a home game against minnows Liechtenstein.
Josip Drmic (Switzerland)
The big threat for England to contend with when they travel to Switzerland on Monday evening could well be striker Josip Drmic, whose performances for Nuremberg despite relegation from the Bundesliga last season earned him a big money summer move to Bayer Leverkusen.
Wayne Rooney (England)
With criticism starting to grow about new England captain Wayne Rooney’s performances for the Three Lions, despite his penalty goal that settled the friendly against Norway, the Manchester United star could really do with a performance in Basel – his team certainly need him in the absence of the injured Daniel Sturridge.
Paco Alcacer (Spain)
Spain are going through something of a striker crisis, with Fernando Torres left out and both Diego Costa and Alvaro Negredo injured, the burden of goalscoring when Vicente del Bosque’s side host FYR Macedonia is likely to fall on Valencia striker Paco Alcacer, who could stake his claim for a regular place.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden)
Fresh from breaking the Swedish goalscoring record with two goals in their friendly victory over Estonia, legendary Paris Saint Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is likely to be looking at one final tournament before his retirement – if Sweden are to qualify then he may need to perform when they travel to Austria.
Stevan Jovetic (Montenegro)
Manchester City striker Stevan Jovetic has enjoyed an impressive start to the season and will be hoping to take this into his international career for Montenegro, who were unfortunate not to have a shot at a qualifying play-off for a World Cup place. They host Moldova and will be expecting to win.
Robin van Persie (The Netherlands)
With Radamel Falcao having arrived at Manchester United to try and steal his first team place, Robin van Persie could do with a performance for the Netherlands when they travel to Prague to face the Czech Republic, having had a quiet night during their 2-0 friendly defeat to Italy.
Edin Dzeko (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Edin Dzeko is the talisman for Bosnia & Herzegovina, who were disappointingly eliminated during the group stage of their first major tournament this summer. They will be looking to bounce back when they host Cyprus this week, with the goals of Dzeko and strike partner Vedad Ibisevic again likely to be key.