Michael Frey

On 8 August 2021, Michael Frey scored five goals in a single Belgian Pro League match, a 5–2 win for Royal Antwerp FC over Standard Liège.

It was not an isolated afternoon. Across the 2021 calendar year he scored 25 league goals — one more than Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah, who each finished on 24. Robert Lewandowski, with 43 in the Bundesliga alone, remained well clear at the top.

Frey came through at BSC Young Boys and made his senior debut in 2012, and was named Swiss Super League Young Footballer of the Year in 2013–14. Lille OSC paid €3.0 million for him in August 2014; he spent 2015–16 on loan at FC Luzern and returned briefly to Young Boys in January 2016, before going back to Bern permanently later that year for a reported €500,000.

The route out of Switzerland ran through FC Zürich, whom he joined in July 2017 for €400,000 and with whom he won the Swiss Cup in 2017–18. Fenerbahçe signed him in August 2018 for €2.64 million; the Istanbul spell was mostly spent elsewhere, on loan at 1. FC Nürnberg and then SK Beveren.

After Antwerp came a loan to Schalke 04 in January 2023, then a free transfer to Queens Park Rangers a year later. In July 2026 he returned to Antwerp.