Following from some comments I and other posters made in other threads, I’ll attempt here to make a list of the players who scored most official goals in the history of football. As many of you know, this subject is a matter of controversy among fans and historians, largely because some players (especially the Brazilians) count also many of the goals they scored in unofficial friendlies. Pelé’s case obviously comes to mind: according to himself (and, dangerously enough, to FIFA), he scored 1.281 goals, but this numbers counts many hundreds of goals he scored in unofficial matches -and should therefore not be taken into consideration in official lists. Now, there are many lists on the Internet which try to show who the best goalscorers of all time are. All of them are partially inaccurate, for one reason or another. Here’s one of the best, the one compiled by Vladimir Kolos for RSSSF (http://rsssf.com/players/prolific.html): 1. Bican, Josef (Austria, Bohemia/Moravia) - 805+ 2. Romário (Brazil) - 772 3. Pelé (Brazil) - 767 4. Puskás, Ferenc (Hungary) - 746+ 5. Müller, Gerd (Germany) - 735 6. Deák, Ferenc (Hungary) - 576+ 7. Seeler, Uwe (Germany) - 575 Tulio „Maravilha“ (Brazil) - 575 9. Friedenreich, Artur (Brazil) - 557 10. Willimowski, Ernst (Poland, Germany) - 554+ 11. Eusébio (Portugal) - 552 12. McGrory, James(Scotland) - 550 13. Binder, Franz (Austria) - 546+ 14. Peyroteo, Fernando (Portugal) - 544 15. Sánchez, Hugo (Mexico) - 541+ 16. Walter, Fritz (Germany) - 539+ 17. Ronaldo, Cristiano (Portugal) - 536 * 18. Takacs II, Jozsef (Hungary) - 523+ 19. Zsengeller, Gyula (Hungary) - 522+ 20. Zico (Brazil) - 522 21. di Stéfano, Alfredo (Argentina, Spain) - 514+ 22. Krankl, Johann (Austria) - 514 23. Nordahl, Gunnar (Sweden) - 513+ 24. Roberto Dinamite (Brazil) - 512 25. Greaves, Jimmy (England) - 511 26. Bene, Ferenc (Hungary) - 508+ 27. Messi, Lionel (Argentina) - 507 * 28. Sarosi, Gyorg, Dr. (Hungary) - 495+ 29. Kocsis, Sandor (Hungary) - 493+ 30. Schlosser, Imre (Hungary) - 489+ 31. Larsson, Henrik (Sweden) - 470+ Here’s the first 20 position of the list compiled by El Grafico, which updates the ranking every now and then: 1. Romario (Brazil) – 762 2. Bican (Czechoslowakia) – 761 3. Pelé (Brazil) – 757 4. Puskas (Hungary) – 709 5. G. Müller (Germany) – 680 6. Eusébio (Portugal) – 624 7. Seeler (Germany) – 568 8. Deák (Hungary) – 546 9. Tulio (Brazil) – 545 10. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) – 537 11. Messi (Argentina) – 521 12. Zico (Brazil) – 513 13. Di Stéfano (Argentina) – 512 14. Nordahl (Sweden) – 502 15. Hugo Sanchez (Mexico) – 496 16. McGrory (Scotland) – 493 17. Roberto Dinamite (Brazil) – 492 18. Zsengeller (Hungary) – 490 19. Schlosser (Hungary) – 486 20. Greaves (England) – 485 Now, let’s see what we can come up with by trying to be as precise as possible and by counting all the official goals, but only the official goals. Let’s start with the most obvious name: Pelé. Pelé 71 goals in first division national championship [34 in Brazil and 37 in the USA (NASL)] 30 goals in the Taca Brasil [equated in 2010 to the national Brazilian championship by CBF] 37 goals in the Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa [equated in 2010 to the national Brazilian champ. by CBF] 470 goals in the Campeonato Paulista 49 goals in the Torneio Rio-Sao Paulo 17 goals in the Copa Libertadores 7 goals in the Intercontinental Cup 3 goals in the Intercontinental Champions’ Supercup 77 goals with the Brazilian national team 6 goals in the 1959-60 Campeonato Brasileiro de Seleções Estaduais [championship of the Brazilian states] [see NOTE 1] TOTAL: 767 goals NOTE 1: I obtained the figure of 6 goals by cross-checking the list of the games that the state of Sao Paulo played in the 1959-60 championship with the list of all the games played and goals scored by Pelé that I found at this address: http://pele.m-qp-m.us/english/pele_statistics.shtml. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ OTHER NOTES: _the RSSSF page lists only 467 goals for Pelé in the Campeonato Paulista, but all other sources list 470. _the RSSSF page lists 7 goals for Pelé in the Campeonato Brasileiro de Seleções Estaduais, but as I note above I counted 6. (And I’m not even 100% sure these goals should be counted as officials.) _the RSSSF page also lists other 2 goals scored by Pelé for the Sao Paulo Selection and 1 in the South American military championship, but I won’t count them because I don’t think they are official.
Well this is a great thread i must say...mate,do you have any info on the number of matches the said players participated[official matches,of course]to arrive at these figures[goals].If possible you could make a mention of that so that the averages can be obtained for all the players.Once again great effort mate....
I agree completely with your list of goals of Pele. I don't see any reason for not including the goals in the Campeonato de Seleçoes Estaduais which was organized by CBD. I looked for goals of Romario Romario 311 goals in first division national championship (154 in Brazil, 98 in Netherlands, 39 in Spain, 19 in USA, 1 in Australia) 51 goals in national cups (36 in Brazil, 14 in Netherlands, 1 in Spain) 233 goals in Campeonato Carioca 36 goals in Torneo Rio-Sao Paulo 4 goals in Taça Maravilhosa 2 goals in 1987 Campeonato Brasileiro de Seleçoes Estaduais 20 goals in European Cup/Champions League 4 goals in Copa Libertadores 24 goals in Copa Mercosur 2 goals in Supercopa Libertadores 1 goal in Intercontinental Cup 3 goals in Club World Cup 5 goals in 1985 South American U-20 Championship 7 goals in 1988 Olympic Games 55 goals with Brazilian national team TOTAL ROMARIO: 758 goals I don´t include: - 2 goals in 2005 Campeonato Brasileiro in canceled games where the goals were invalid - Goals in friendly matches with youth Brazilian national team, I only include goals in friendly matches with absolute national team - 2 goals in 1996 Copa dos Campeoes Mundiais. I´m not very sure about this tournament. Although it´s recognized by CBF it´s a tournament organized by a TV with the Brazilian teams winners of previous editions of Intercontinental Cup, not all the winners only the Brazilian ones. UEFA and CONMEBOL are the organizers of the Intercontinental Cup and don´t recognized this tournament. I looked many different sources but this link I think it´s a reliable list of the goals of Romario including friendly matches: http://futdados.com/raio-x-de-todos-os-1002-gols-de-romario/
I checked and Pele scored 467 goals in Campeonato Paulista as RSSSF says http://acervosantosfc.com/campeonato-paulista-artilheiros/ Here there is a list where I think all goals in Paulista's are except 1 goal of Pele on 23 Sept 1964 match, http://acervosantosfc.com/pele-lista-de-gols/ Another lists to compare for example: http://futdados.com/raio-x-dos-gols-de-pele-na-carreira/ and http://www.campeoesdofutebol.com.br/pele_jogos3.html By season I have the next goals in Campeonato Paulista: 1957-36 goals, 1958-58 goals, 1959-46 goals, 1960-32 goals, 1961-47 goals, 1962- 37 goals, 1963-22 goals, 1964-34 goals, 1965-49 goals, 1966-12 goals, 1967-16 goals, 1968-17 goals, 1969-26 goals, 1970-7 goals, 1971-6 goals, 1972-9 goals, 1973-11 goals, 1974-2 goals TOTAL PELE: 764 goals
Well Kudos to both schus and Puskas1988 for their efforts to research into the legitimate number of goals scored by legends Pele and Romario.Great work friends.This has now become a source material.So is it 764 goals in 814 matches for Pele?
Thanks Caspian, but I didn´t investigate about the number of matches of Pele or any other. That's another job. I looked for goals of Josef Bican. This is more difficult because there isn´t so much information but this is what I found Josef Bican 518 goals in first division national championship (71 in Austria, 206 in Czechoslovakia, 242 in Bohemia and Moravia) 51 goals in second division Czechoslovakian championship 18 goals in Wiener Cup/Austrian Cup 30 goals in Cesky Pohar 58 goals in Stredocesky Pohar 20 goals in Osvobozeni Pohar 15 goals in Central European Cup 29 goals with national teams (14 with Austria, 12 with Czechoslovakia, 3 with Bohemia and Moravia) TOTAL JOSEF BICAN: 739 goals Some pages about his years in Austria are: http://www.rapidarchiv.at http://www.austriasoccer.at/Menu/meisterschaft.html About goals in first division championships I found different sources and I got the number 518, the same than IFFHS. However RSSSF has 16 goals in 1944 but I didn´t find that there were any championship in 1944/45, and they also have 3 goals more in Bohemian championship. So total goals in first division by RSSSF is 537. About goals in second division and in Czechoslovakian cup tournaments (cesky, stredocesky and osvobozeni pohar) I only found partial information so this data is completely taken from RSSSF: http://www.rsssf.com/players/prolific.html#bican A page with information about Slavia Praha and these tournaments: http://slavia.webzdarma.cz/1937.html I don´t include 4 goals in 1952 Ceskoslovensky Pohar because different sources say it's an unofficial tournament, included RSSSF.
Gerd Müller 51 goals in fifth level German league (Bezirksliga Schwaben) 2 goals in fourth level German league (Landesliga Bayern-Süd) 33 goals in second level German league (Regionalliga Süd) 6 goals in promotion playoff in second level German league 405 goals in first division national championship (365 in Germany, 40 in USA) 80 goals in German Cup 12 goals in German League Cup 34 goals in European Cup 20 goals in Cup Winners' Cup 7 goals in Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 4 goals in UEFA Cup 3 goals in UEFA Super Cup 5 goals in International Football Cup 1 goal in Intercontinental Cup 68 goals with German national team TOTAL GERD MÜLLER: 731 goals I don´t consider 1 goal with U23 Germany because I only consider the goals with youth national teams if they are in World Cup, Continental Cups or Olympic Games. I consider official 51 goals in Bezirksliga Schwaben (5th level) with TSV 1861 Nördlingen and 2 goals in Landesliga Bayern-Süd (4th level) with Bayern Amateure because they belong to the Bavarian Football Association which ranks within the German football league system: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bavarian_football_league_system Müller goals by team: 51 goals in TSV 1861 Nördlingen 2 goals in Bayern Amateure 570 goals in Bayern München 40 goals in Fort Lauderdale Strikers 68 goals in Germany
Eusebio 342 goals in first division national championship (319 in Portugal, 22 in USA, 1 in Mexico) 5 goals in second level national championship (3 in Portugal, 2 in USA) 77 goals in Mozambique regional championship 97 goals in national Taça de Portugal 8 goals in regional Taça da Honra 46 goals in European Cup 7 goals in Cup Winners' Cup 4 goals in Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 2 goals in Intercontinental Cup 41 goals with Portuguese national team TOTAL EUSEBIO: 629 goals - I put 319 goals in Primeira Liga (316 with Benfica and 3 with Beira-Mar) because IFFHS and RSSSF have this number, however I found only 315 goals with Benfica. Maybe the difference is one goal in a 7-0 match against Belenenses in 1968 where some give the goal to Eusebio and others say that it's an auto goal. Here I put some link with information although could there be some difference https://www.foradejogo.net/player.php?player=194201250001 http://www.thefinalball.com/player.php?id=5728 http://em-defesa-do-benfica.blogspot.com/2014/01/impressionante-eusebio.html?m=1 https://arquivista.wordpress.com/2007/10/29/epoca-196970-primeira-divisao/ - I didn't find any information about the goals in Mozambique with Sporting de Lourenço Marques so I give for valid this data from internet. - I don´t know where is the limit about which match is official or not, but I decided to consider the goals in the district tournament Taça da Honra because it´s organized by a football association, the Associaçao de Futebol de Lisboa. - I put 5 goals in second level leagues (3 in Portugal with Uniao de Tomar and 2 goals in USA, ASL II, with New Jersey Americans). In many places say that Eusebio scored 5 goals in ASL but I only found 2. In this link appears the 2 goals in 1978 regular season: http://www.nasljerseys.com/ASL/Rosters/Americans_Rosters.htm After regular season Eusebio played 3 playoff games, but I couldn´t find any goal more. In this league there is a punctuation system which consists in 2 points for each goal and 1 point for each assist and Eusebio got 5 points totally, maybe this is the motive of the confussion. Eusebio goals by team: 77 goals in Sporting de Lourenço Marques 480 goals in Benfica 2 goals in Boston Minutemen 1 goal in Monterrey 18 goals in Toronto Metros-Croatia 3 goals in Beira-Mar 2 goals in Las Vegas Quicksilvers 3 goals in Uniao de Tomar 2 goals in New Jersey Americans 41 goals in Portugal
At the end of the season 2017/2018, after the Russia World Cup 2018: Cristiano Ronaldo : 663 goals Lionel Messi : 641 goals
Hats off to #Messi 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 🎩 pic.twitter.com/UtFsfEl5Gw— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 23, 2019 50 career hattricks scored at the highest level (and counting) Peles official goal tally will be surpassed by the end of next year and probably even josef bican aswell considering how close he is in the very near future Messi and CR will be the top 2 goalscorers in the history of football
Uwe Seeler 267 goals in regional league (Oberliga Nord) 40 goals in national championship (Deutsche Meisterschaft) 139 goals in first division national league (137 in Germany, 2 in Ireland) 24 goals in national DFB Pokal 17 goals in regional Norddeutscher Pokal 5 goals in European Cup 13 goals in Cup Winner's Cup 3 goals in Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 14 goals in FIFA Youth Tournament U18 (3 in 1953, 11 in 1954) 43 goals in German national team TOTAL UWE SEELER: 565 goals Seeler goals by team: 506 goals in Hamburger S.V. 2 goals in Cork Celtic 14 goals in Germany U18 43 goals in Germany
Hello, about Müller I have investigated whether he scored 571, 570, 566, 565, 564 or 563 goals with Bayern and I have found an explanation for the 5 goals in the intertoto cup of 1978 (debatable if considered official) or the autogol vs ajax given To him wrongly, with what I have not been able to find are the two goals and two more matches in the German Cup, I know they must be in 1964-65, but I have reviewed in several pages and I do not find them that the rsssf they tell them and that in the sum of the first season they are attributed to him, but when I search I always get 78 goals and I would like to know if you only took for granted that they should be 80 or if you know what matches they are.
Hello! In 1964/65 Bayern played 3 matches in Süddeutscher Pokal (1st round, 1/8 and 1/4) and Müller scored 2 goals in 1/8, Bayern 4 - Ingolstadt 0. Bayern didn't classify for the DFB-Pokal, so really Müller scored 78 goals in DFB-Pokal and 2 goals in Süddeutscher Pokal. About International Football Cup in 60s I'm not sure if it should be considered official because the organizers are particulars but otherwise it was an international competition organized with the approval of UEFA
Cut and copy. Great job carlitos. And what happens if you add the goals in lower divisions and in youth national teams (not friendlies, only in World Cup, Continental Cups or Olympic Games). Because this is the criterion I had, following the Gráfico criterions. But of course anyone can follow the criterion that consider more appropriate
Hello great research on Uwe Seeler, I just wanted to ask why I saw that he scored 507 goals in the hamburg and wanted to know if you have any idea which goal is the one that is given more. And in another curiosity I have also seen that in the U-18 team he scored 15 goals, yet just out of curiosity you know why the graph has 568 goals (because he only played in Hamburg, and the two goals in Ireland). To know well because I do not get some accounts on the chart, although I agree with their criteria.
Most Brazilian sources give Pelé 466 goals in the São Paulo championship. The newspaper Marca made a serious study on Pelé's goals and also credits him with 466 goals in the regional league. https://futebolpaulista.com.br/Noticias/Detalhe.aspx?Noticia=16359 https://www.ogol.com.br/player_compets.php?id=5733 https://futdados.com/raio-x-dos-767-gols-de-pele-em-jogos-oficiais/