Christiano Ronaldo has set records for the number of goals scored throughout his career, becoming the most prolific goalscorer of all time at both club and national team level.
At the club level, Ronaldo set a new scoring record on March 12, 2022 after scoring a hat-trick for Manchester United. Currently, the superstar born in 1985 is still trying to set new records while playing for Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League.
Below is the list of top 10 players with the most goals of all time recognized by FIFA (Updated March 16)
Goals only count in official matches
SEE MORE: Who scores the most goals on the national team?
Ronaldo’s scoring record from FIFA
Ronaldo has been dubbed “the greatest player of all time” by some teammates and fans. However, Ronaldo’s current record for goals is not necessarily the greatest as some football researchers believe that there are still no complete records of football history before the 20th century.
Ronaldo broke the record of Josef Bican – who scored 805 goals in 24 years from 1931 to 1955. Ronaldo spent 21 years in his football career, starting with the 2002/03 season.
But there is still much debate about Bican’s actual goals record. Pele also shared that he has scored more than 1,000 goals in his career (specifically 1,283 goals) – although that has not been confirmed.
Controversy over scoring records
Although Ronaldo has established himself as ‘the player who scores the most goals in official FIFA matches’, controversy over this title will continue.
The Czech Football Federation often questions Bican’s goal number of 805, claiming that this player actually scored 821 goals.
Bican fans confirm that Bican’s number of goals (821 goals) is accurate. However, according to ESPN, FIFA believes that this number may still not be correct as the total number of goals this player scored could be up to 823.
FIFA and CONMEBOL have previously recorded Pele scoring a total of 1,281 goals in 1,363 matches, but these goals include youth matches, friendlies and also unofficial matches.
On the other hand, the Guinness Book of World Records records Pele scoring 1,279 goals. Therefore, there is still no source that can accurately verify the number of goals during his career.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal statistics
Out of a total of 875, Ronaldo has scored more than half of the goals (450) at Real Madrid.
The Portuguese superstar scored 145 goals at Manchester United, 127 goals for the Portuguese national team, 101 goals for Juventus and 5 goals for Sporting CP.
In 2022/23, Ronaldo ranked 5th on the Saudi Pro League top scorer chart, despite joining midway through the season. Previously, 18 goals in the Premier League 2021/22 helped CR7 ranked 3rd. In the 2020/21 season, Ronaldo won the title of top scorer at Euro 2021 as well as the Italian Serie A tournament with Juventus (29 goals).
SEE MORE: How many goals is Messi less than Ronaldo?
