Best Goal Scorers of the 20th Century

Discussion in 'The Beautiful Game' started by Gregoriak, Nov 16, 2004.

  1. Gregoriak

    Gregoriak BigSoccer Supporter

    Feb 27, 2002
    Munich
    Based on goals from domestic league and caps.

    For some players, I also have the goals from domestic cup and international club games, these are indicated with an *.

    Rank-Goals-Player-Career Span

    01---758---PELÉ from 21 years [1956-1977]*
    02---681---Ferenc PUSKÁS from 23 years [1943-1966]
    03---617---Gerd MÜLLER from 16 years [1965-1981]*
    04---553---Uwe SEELER from 18 years [1954-1972]*
    05---544---Josef BICAN from 24 years [1931-1955]
    06---539---EUSÉBIO from 17 years [1960-1977]*
    07---504---Alfredo DI STÉFANO from 21 years [1945-1966]*
    08---484---ZICO from 23 years [1971-1994]*
    09---477---Imre SCHLOSSER from 23 years [1905-1928]
    10---448---Gyula ZSENGELLER from 17 years [1935-1952]
    11---448---Fritz WALTER from 20 years [1939-1959]*
    12---419---Gunnar NORDAHL from 18 years [1940-1958]
    13---416---James McGRORY from 16 years [1922-1938]
    14---411---Hugo SÁNCHEZ from 21 years [1976-1997]
    15---411---Ferenc SZUSZA from 21 years [1940-1961]
    16---410---Jimmy GREAVES from 14 years [1957-1971]
    17---402---Johan CRUIJFF from 20 years [1964-1984]*
    18---393---Dr. György SÁROSI from 18 years [1930-1948]
    19---388---Hans KRANKL from 18 years [1970-1988]
    20---388---Ferenc BENE from 19 years [1961-1978 & 1981-1982]

    Note: Ferenc Puskás' total lacks goals scored in the Hungarian Cup. Pelé's total additionally includes goals from several tournaments unique to Brazil.
     
  2. lanman

    lanman BigSoccer Supporter

    Aug 30, 2002
    Are you only including top division games?

    Arthur Rowley scored 434 goals for West Brom, Fulham, Leicester and Shrewsbury from 1946-65.
     
  3. lanman

    lanman BigSoccer Supporter

    Aug 30, 2002
    Also Dixie Dean scored 379 league goals and 18 for England which would put him on the list.
     
  4. Gregoriak

    Gregoriak BigSoccer Supporter

    Feb 27, 2002
    Munich
    Only top division goals are counted. Dixie Dean scored 320 first division goals, his 39 second division goals from the 1930-31 season are not included (and also not his goals from 3rd division for Notts County in 1938-39).
     
  5. Frank Cunha

    Frank Cunha New Member

    Sep 17, 2001
    UNION TOWNSHIP, NJ
    you forgot the best center forward for Portugal ever, the captain of the CL Benfica, he raise the trophy twice and then retired,
    Eusebio only won one CL
    Jose Aguas close to 500 goals

    his named is all over the European cup final,
    Benfica -3-Barcelona-2
    Benfica -5-Real Madrid -3

    here is a link
    https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=88763
     
  6. Gregoriak

    Gregoriak BigSoccer Supporter

    Feb 27, 2002
    Munich
    Aguas scored 292 league goals. Those close to 500 goals must be due to inclusion of non-competitive games. This list only looks at competitive goals.

    Aguas scored 11 times for Portugal, which would lift his total to 303 goals. Though I don`t know exactly how many goals he scored from European Cup games, it must be under 30. New total: 329 goals (maximum). Maybe you know how many EC-goals he scored and how often he scored in the Portuguese Cup?

    Thanks for that link.
     
  7. Colin Bell the King

    Colin Bell the King New Member

    Sep 7, 2004
    Wythenshawe
    But surely Dixies second division goals should count, as he did score 60 goals in the 1st Division. He is definately up there with the best. What about that guy who played for Middlesbrough and scored 59 in a season, Dixie beat his record by scoring 6 or 9 goals in the last 3 games.

    And I remember reading somewhere that Pele scored over 1000 total career goals.
     
  8. Colin Bell the King

    Colin Bell the King New Member

    Sep 7, 2004
    Wythenshawe
    And looking at that list, man scoring 410 goals in 14 years (Greaves) is one of the best records I have ever seen. Geez.
     
  9. comme

    comme Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 21, 2003
    George Camsell.
     
  10. lanman

    lanman BigSoccer Supporter

    Aug 30, 2002
    Camsell only had a few seaons of First Division football, and I don't think his total would be enough anyway (it was in the mid 300's). His international record is extraordinary, however, 9 caps 18 goals.
     
  11. Gregoriak

    Gregoriak BigSoccer Supporter

    Feb 27, 2002
    Munich
    Dean scored 60 goals in the 1927-28 season, and these goals are included in his total of 320 first league goals. I wouldn`t know why his second division goals should be included because of that? Do you know how many goals he scored in the FA-Cup?

    Pelé scored 1,279 goals, but 521 of them are from all-sorts of non-competitive games. This list only included goals from competitive games.
     
  12. TRICOLOR BRASIL

    Feb 5, 2004
    Brazil
    Can you explain this?
     
  13. Gregoriak

    Gregoriak BigSoccer Supporter

    Feb 27, 2002
    Munich
    It is well-known that Pelé scored 1,279 goals over the course of his career. But of course not all of these goals came from competitive matches. Competitive matches would be:
    -official FIFA-A matches (World Cup and World Cup Qualifying and friendlies against other nations as well as South America Championship plus Qualifying)
    -domestic league football (Campeonato Sao Paulo, 1. Division Brazil & NASL)
    -domestic cup tournaments, including several Brazil Club tournaments (Taca do Brasil, Taca do Prata etc.)
    - international Club games (Copa Libertadores, World Club Cup)

    In these official competitions, Pelé scored 758 goals.

    The remaining 521 goals are from non-competitive matches, e.g. exhibition or practice games for Santos or Brazil, unofficial Brazil matches against Club teams, Santos friendlies against other clubs, games for the Brazil Army team, unofficial games for several selections (e.g. Estado Sao Paulo), NASL All-Stars and so on. In these unofficial games he scored 521 goals.
     
  14. lanman

    lanman BigSoccer Supporter

    Aug 30, 2002
    28 in 33 games.
     
  15. 0-Point

    0-Point Member

    Jun 5, 2004
    Quantum flux
    Romario - :cool:
     
  16. Walter3000

    Walter3000 Member+

    Apr 8, 2004
    gainesville, Florida
    Club:
    Chelsea FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    617 goals in 16 years is much, much more impressive
     
  17. Frank Cunha

    Frank Cunha New Member

    Sep 17, 2001
    UNION TOWNSHIP, NJ
    all of Jose Aguas are official goals including Portuguese Cup, the old Lisbon Cup etc close to 500
    Jose Aguas also played for Rapid Vienna
    I got the Benfica link the record ever goal for the last 100 years
    http://www.slbenfica.pt/Info/Futebo..._futslbscpmelhoresmarcadores_261203_14627.asp
    let's not take anything away from the best central forward that European cup finals ever see
    the captain the raise the cup against Barcelona and Real Madrid
    a “pantera negra” marcou 727 golos e o capitão europeu 482). E por falar no melhor
     
  18. condor11

    condor11 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 2, 2002
    New Zealand
    so how many competitive goals has romario scored?
     
  19. lanman

    lanman BigSoccer Supporter

    Aug 30, 2002
  20. Teso Dos Bichos

    Teso Dos Bichos Red Card

    Sep 2, 2004
    Purged by RvN
    Interesting concept. However, it will take a lot of time and research to get all of the accurate stats. You should limit it to a set number (ie, top 20) and keep it like that until we get all of the accurate stats. Then extend it to include other players that people are suggesting.
     
  21. Cassano

    Cassano Member

    Jul 16, 2004
    Club:
    AC Milan
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    Roberto Baggio scored 319 if you include all competitions, he scored 218 in Serie A (5th All-time)...
     
  22. Gregoriak

    Gregoriak BigSoccer Supporter

    Feb 27, 2002
    Munich
    Thanks mate. Additionally, Dean scored 18 goals for England, which increases his total from 320 to 366 - still not enough!

    Do you have the FA goals for Jimmy Greaves? (did a quick google on him, but no word on how many times he scored in the FA cup).
     
  23. Gregoriak

    Gregoriak BigSoccer Supporter

    Feb 27, 2002
    Munich
    Here`s a quick calculation about the yearly average number of goals each player in this list scored. The full info on all competitions is only available on the players marked with *.

    38.6 MÜLLER*
    36.0 PELÉ*
    31.7 EUSÉBIO*
    30.7 SEELER*
    29.6 PUSKÁS
    29.3 GREAVES
    26.3 ZSENGELLER
    26.0 McGRORY
    24.0 DI STÉFANO*
    23.3 NORDAHL
    22.7 BICAN
    22.4 WALTER*
    21.8 SAROSI
    21.5 KRANKL
    21.0 ZICO*
    20.7 SCHLOSSER
    20.4 BENE
    20.1 CRUIJFF*
    19.6 SÁNCHEZ
    19.6 SZUSZA
     
  24. lanman

    lanman BigSoccer Supporter

    Aug 30, 2002
    Sorry - I don't have any info on his cup or European goals.
     
  25. lanman

    lanman BigSoccer Supporter

    Aug 30, 2002
    Looked into this a bit and found that Greaves scored 22 or 32 FA Cup goals (two sites, two conflicting numbers), 5 League Cup goals and 9 European goals for Spurs. I couldn't find his Chelsea stats anywhere and he only scored in the League for West Ham. I don't know if he played any cup games in for Milan in his short time there.

    The National Football Museum has Greaves with a career total of 491 goals. I imagine this probably includes his goals for England under-23's and other representative games as it would leave him with around 50 goals to find from his cup games with Chelsea and Milan (highly unlikely).

    Greaves scored on his debut for every club he played for and also for England at both under-23 and full levels.

    On a lighter note, he played for England against Brazil in the 1962 World Cup quarterfinal, which was interupted by a dog on the pitch. Greaves caught the dog and was promptly urinated on by it as he carried it off. Garrincha found the incident so funny he took the dog home with him after the game and kept it as a pet.
     

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