Is Cristiano Ronaldo football history’s all-time top scorer now? Goalscoring record explained

Cristiano Ronaldo recently scored the 900th goal of his professional career.

The veteran reached the milestone in Portugal’s 2-1 win over Croatia in the Uefa Nations League, netting his side’s second of the night.

Overall, it was his 131st for the Portuguese national team, the most international goals in men’s football. But, as with a lot of things in football, there is dispute around the statistic.

No one disputes that Ronaldo has scored 900 goals throughout his career, but depending on the source, the Portuguese forward may have hit that mark earlier. And, depending on the source, he’s either the best goalscorer of all time, or there’s still work to be done.

Is Ronaldo the top scorer of all time?

The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) counts Ronaldo as actually having 913 goals in official matches, as of 14th July 2024. That tally will have gone up to 918 after the start of the Saudi Pro League season and Ronaldo’s goal against Croatia.

The RSSSF’s count of official matches includes all leagues — including regional, reserve and amateur — national and international cups, and “all selections”. Also counted are “other official tournaments”, some traditional international tournaments including the Intertoto Cup, several traditional national tournaments and games, and all cancelled games.

The stats are sourced by club books or historical websites and press. And, most importantly for this, they don’t have Ronaldo as the top scorer in men’s football.

That honour, per the RSSSF belongs to one Erwin Helmchen. Helmchen was a German footballer whose career started in 1923 and ran until 1951. According to the RSSSF, Helmchen scored at least 989 goals, with scope for that number to actually be higher.

On the RSSSF’s list, Ronaldo sits at third. Josef Bican is listed as having 950+ goals, and Ronald Rooke 934+. However, the RSSSF do also list Ronaldo as the best goalscorer of all time in official top level matches. In their July update, Ronaldo was on 897 goals, counting the Saudi Pro League and Uefa Nations League goals he has scored since, but not the Saudi Super Cup.

However, according to the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS), Ronaldo is the first to reach the 900 milestone. Portugal’s 2-1 win over Croatia was Ronaldo’s 1,236th in professional football, just over 22 years after his first. Ronaldo scored on his fifth game for Sporting CP, against Moreirense in the Primeira Liga.

Per the IFFHS, Ronaldo’s closest rival is — surprise, surprise — Lionel Messi. According to their stats, Messi has scored 838 goals for club and country, with Pele in third, Romario fourth, Ferenc Puskas fifth and Josef Bican sixth — the six players to have scored more than 700 goals.

As mentioned, Ronaldo is the all-time top goalscorer in men’s international football, taking his tally to 131 against Croatia. But he isn’t the all-time best in senior football. That honour belongs to Christine Sinclair, who scored 190 goals for Canada Women during her 23-year career.

Sinclair broke Abby Wambach’s record in December 2020, but only added five more goals as her role with Canada changed to more of a supporting one. Alongside Sinclair and Wambach (184), Mia Hamm (158), Maysa Jbarah (137) and Carli Lloyd (134) have all scored more international goals than Ronaldo.

Stats for all-time top scorers in women’s football are scarce, given the lack of coverage of the game. But, according to an organisation called Independent Football Data, there are two women to have broken the 900-goal mark.

Per their research, the English football legend Lily Parr scored 986+ goals, spending a large part of her career with the famous Dick, Kerr Ladies. Parr was the first woman to be inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame. Second to Parr is Israeli striker Silvi Jan, who scored 976 official goals during her career.

Will Cristiano Ronaldo reach 1,000 career goals?

Before he had scored his 900th goal, Ronaldo was already eyeing up 1,000. Ronaldo has recently started a YouTube channel and posted a short interview with former Manchester United teammate Rio Ferdinand on it.

During the interview, Ronaldo claimed reached 1,000 goals is the most important thing for him he he stays fit. He also noted that all of his goals will have been captured on video, while others scored their goals when footage wasn’t as common.

“I want to reach 1,000 goals,” he said, hinting that he could be playing until he’s 41.

“If I don’t have any injuries, this for me is the most important [thing], I want that. For me, the best mark that I can have in football is to reach, first, 900 goals. After, my challenge is to be at 1,000 goals.”

He added: “All the goals I have scored, they have video, They all have video. Listen, I respect all of them [Pele and Alfredo Di Stefano]. And if you want more goals, I can bring them from training, too.

“And I will prove to the people after. They prefer this player, or this is the best one. I don’t care about that.”

Ronaldo turns 40 in February, so would be 41 in 2026 — giving him 17 months until his 41st birthday and 29 until he turns 42. Let’s say Ronaldo wants to reach 1,000 goals before his 42nd birthday.

Presuming he stays in the Saudi Pro League and continues to feature for Portugal, Ronaldo would average around 50-55 games per season. With two-and-a-half season between now and February 2026, that’d give Ronaldo 100-115 games if he does stay fit.

So, that average is pretty easy to work out. Ronaldo would need to average just under a goal per game to reach 1,000 goals before his 42nd birthday. For Al-Nassr last season, Ronaldo scored 44 goals in 45 games across all competitions and failed to find the net in 16 matches. Per 90 minutes, that worked out to an average of 0.99 goals last season for Al-Nassr.

Of course, a poor run of form in front of goal for Portugal has prevented Ronaldo from reaching 900 goals sooner.

Can anyone catch Ronaldo?

As mentioned, Messi is Ronaldo’s closest competitor per the IFFHS’s ranking. He’s also the only active player within 200 of Ronaldo. Robert Lewandowski is the next closest, sitting way back on 635 goals.

All eyes will be on Erling Haaland and the Norwegian is the most likely to push Ronaldo close at the very least. The Norwegian is still only 24 but has already scored 263 goals in 338 games for club and country. That’s an average of 0.78 goals per game.

If he were to continue with that average, Haaland would hit 900 goals in 817 more games. Assuming Haaland stays at a club that averages 50 games a season, and Norway average around 10 games a year, he’d reach the milestone in 2038/39. Haaland would be 38 during that season.

Kylian Mbappe is another potential, with 334 goals in 457 games for club and country so far. That’s an average of 0.73 goals per game. But age is against Mbappe. While Haaland has only just turned 24, Mbappe will be 26 in December. At his current average, Mbappe would reach 900 goals after 775 more games. If we also average Mbappe out to 60 games per season for club and country, he’d hit the milestone towards the end of the 2035/36 campaign at the age of 38.

But, Ronaldo will naturally have added to his 900 goals before the time he retires. There is a big chance that Ronaldo’s record may never be broken.

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