Cristiano Ronaldo’s career has been built on achieving the seemingly impossible with an ever present ruthless efficiency in front of goal.
The 37-year-old has sent goal-scoring records tumbling throughout his trophy-laden career, as the top marksman in the history of both Real Madrid and the Portugal national team.
However, his hat trick in Manchester United’s dramatic 3-2 Premier League win over Tottenham on March 12 has set a new benchmark of personal excellence for Ronaldo.
A first treble since returning to United last summer brings Ronaldo up to 807 career goals with numerous outlets crowning him as the highest ever goal scorer in the history of men’s football, as recognized by FIFA.
Sporting News reached out to FIFA to confirm the list. No word from the world-governing body as of publication time, but other outlets including TalkSport and SI.com, shows the following top 10 “FIFA-recognized goals” totals:
| Ranking | Player | Goals |
| 1. | Cristiano Ronaldo | 807 |
| 2. | Josef Bican | 805 |
| 3. | Romario | 772 |
| 4. | Lionel Messi | 759 |
| 5. | Pele | 757 |
| 6. | Ferenc Puskas | 746 |
| 7. | Gerd Muller | 734 |
| 8. | Ferenc Deak | 576 |
| 9. | Uwe Seeler | 575 |
| Tulio Maravilha | 575 |
Lionel Messi is the only other active player on this list, but he is currently 48 goals away from Ronaldo.
Depending on how long each of their careers run, Messi could potentially make up the difference given he’s 34 years old compared to Ronaldo’s 37 years of age.
MORE: Updated list of Premier League top scorers
Ronaldo breaks FIFA goals record
Ronaldo’s goal scoring exploits have reignited United fans adoration for their hero and their view of him being the ultimate ‘GOAT’.
The
@Cristiano
pic.twitter.com/Xju55IYVfA
— Marcus Rashford MBE (@MarcusRashford) March 12, 2022
However, the record itself is open to interpretation, with some football historians claiming it is impossible to know for certain due to the lack of accurate recording keeping in pre-20th century football.
The record Ronaldo has broken relates to FIFA’s estimated number of games and goals recorded during their existence as an organization, with the previous record holder Josef Bican scoring an incredible 805 goals between 1931 and 1955. Ronaldo is in the 20th year of his career.
But there is still plenty of dispute over Bican’s actual numbers, with Brazilian icon Pele also claiming to have scored over 1000 career goals — though that has not been confirmed.
MORE: Top Champions League goal scorers
No consensus on goals world record for men
In terms of accepted recognition, Ronaldo has now established himself as the ‘top goal scorer in recognized FIFA games’, but the argument will rage on.
The Czech FA have regularly disputed Bican’s figure of 805 with claims that he actually scored 821 when the final tallies were recorded.
The best goalscorer in football history?
The History and Statistics committee of the Czech FA counted all the goals scored by the legendary Josef Bican and we can declare he scored 821 goals in official matches.
Jaroslav Kolář, the Head of the committee shares more details. pic.twitter.com/eYqTcGJf1p
— Czech Football National Team (@ceskarepre_eng) January 21, 2021
However, Ronaldo has record keepers on his side in this one, with his own figures indisputable and not connected with amateur football, as some of Pele’s goals are.
Bican’s numbers illustrate the information gap between national federations and world-governing body FIFA, with his domestic supporters claiming the higher number is accurate, with FIFA stating they could both be wrong with a possible total of 823, as per reports from ESPN.
Pele’s one-man crusade to keep himself at the top of the pile has taken on a personal angle for the Brazilian legend, with his ‘official number’ placed at 757, but the man himself claiming to have netted a whopping 1,283 despite a distinct lack of proof.
I have scored 1283 goals in my life,
— Pelé (@Pele) September 25, 2015
FIFA and South American body CONMEBOL have previously registered Pele with 1,281 goals in 1,363 games, but these include youth, friendly and non-official games, which Ronaldo’s figure does not include.
According to the authoritative and widely cited RSSSF organization (Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation), their totals and rankings are also different.
The situation is made even more complicated by the Guinness Book of World Records, who add their confirmation of Pele as the record holder, but with 1,279 goals, as exhibition goals are prohibited by their count.
.@Pele has the most football career goals at 1,279! Stick to your passions everyone: https://t.co/45XlIquRbn pic.twitter.com/9a8XMsQKQj
— Guinness World Records (@GWR) August 30, 2016
One way to interpret this jumble of information: Ronaldo is the new leader as far as ‘goals in official games’ with Pele’s disputed numbers giving him an edge in ‘overall games’.
Where has Ronaldo scored his 807 goals?
Ronaldo has scored more than half of his goals at Real Madrid with 450.
He’s now bagged 136 at Manchester United, as well as 115 with the Portugal national team, 101 with Juventus and five with Sporting CP.
| Team | Goals |
| Real Madrid | 450 |
| Manchester United | 136 |
| Portugal national team | 115 |
| Juventus | 101 |
| Sporting CP | 5 |
There may be more goals coming to add to that grand total given Ronaldo is showing he can still score with the best of them.
His 12 Premier League goals are good for second in England’s top division behind only Mohamed Salah (20 goals). Just last year he finished as top scorer at Euro 2021 and at the conclusion of the Italian Serie A season with Juventus (29 goals).
A reminder of his longevity came with that record-setting hat trick against Tottenham:
14 – Cristiano Ronaldo scored his second Premier League hat-trick and first since January 2008 against Newcastle. His two trebles were separated by 14 years & 59 days, the longest gap between hat-tricks for a player in Premier League history. Longevity. pic.twitter.com/UaOf7CU3yU
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 12, 2022
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