Most of the leagues in Europe are headed toward the crucial and decisive stage in the season as spring is upon us and Summer, with the World Cup, is waiting around the corner. We usually focus on the big leagues in our monthly top scorers edition, today we turn the spotlights towards a few of the less popular leagues – Scotland, Dutch, Greece, Turkey and Portugal.

Scottish Premier League

Kris Boyd, Rangers F.C. – 21 Goals

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Leading Rangers to it’s (apparently) 53rd league title and second in a row, Boyd is having his second consecutive 20+ goals season, after scoring 27 in 2008-2009. With four games left, Boyd is pretty much safe at the top with Anthony Stokes of Hibs trailing by 5 goals at second, with no real chance of overtaking the top active scorer in the SPL.

Dutch Eredivisie

Luis Suarez, A.F.C. Ajax – 29 Goals

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Although Ajax are heading towards (probably) another season without the league title, Suarez has been ripping the nets around The Netherlands with 29 goals in 27 matches. Suarez, unlike usual league leading goalscorers, isn’t a striker, but usually plays as a winger or a supporting striker behind Marko Pantelic (9 goals). The second best scorer in the Dutch league is Twente’s (league leaders) Bryan Ruiz of Costa Rica with 19 goals.

Portuguese Liga

Oscar Cardozo, S.L. Benfica – 18 Goals

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Finally, a league with an actual battle for the top spot on the scorers list. Paraguayan Oscar Cardozo is leading the league with 18 goals, along with Benfica who are leading the league with a shaky 3 point lead over Braga (seven games to go), maybe heading for their first league title since 2005. Chasing him is Colombian Ramadel Falcao of F.C. Porto who are headed for a disappointing third place finish, enjoying a very successful debut season in Europe, scoring 17 goals thus far.

Greek Super League

Djibril Cisse, Panathinaikos F.C. – 21 Goals

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Has Cisse finally found a home in Greece, leading the scorers list with 21 goals, 10 more than the runners up and leading PAO to it’s first league title since 2004 and only second championship since 1996, suffering under the Olympiacos domination of the last 15 years. This is Cisse’s first 20+ league goals season since his final year with Auxerre, back in 2003-2004.

Turkish Super Lig

Ariza Makukula, Kayserispor – 17 Goals

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Before we get to Makukula, lets talk about the season in Turkey – Bursaspor are the league leaders, 5 points ahead of Galatasaray and six ahead of Fenerbahce and Besiktas with eight games to go. If they stay at the top, it will be their first title, the first title won by a team outside of the “big four” (Gala, Fener, Beskitas and Trabzonspor) and the first title won by a team outside of Istanbul since 1984. And on to Makikula, who plays for Kayserispor, ranked seventh in the league. Makukula, a Portuguese international of Congolese descent, is playing for his 11th team in his career and is pretty much enjoying a one horse race for the top scorer, leading by seven goals over the challengers, enjoying the best season of his career.