The seven footballers with 800+ career goals: Cristiano Ronaldo 3rd, Lionel Messi 5th…
Former Arsenal, Barcelona and Manchester United stars are among the seven players who’ve scored more than 800 goals for club and country.
According to the statistics gathered by the RSSSF, a total of seven players have scored more than 800 goals, although there is some debate over the accuracy of the historical data.
Only including goals scored in offical matches, including lower league goals, these are the seven players with over 800 goals.
7. Ferenc Puskas – 802 goals
Just making the cut for our list is Puskas who scored 802 offical goals throughout his illustrious career.
The Hungarian striker enjoyed the first 13 years of his career with Budapest Honved, before moving to Spain in 1958 and joining Real Madrid.
He’s the sixth-highest scoring player in the history of Real Madrid with 242 goals in just 262 appearances for the Spanish giants.
“He had a roly ply physique but a wonderful left foot and he was a brilliant finisher,” is how England legend Sir Tom Finney described the forward.
“I would put Puskas in any list of all-time greats.”
6. Jimmy Jones – 840 goals
Jones played between 1943 and 1965, spending the peak years of his career in Northern Ireland playing for Glenavon.
As per the records of the RSSSF, he scored a whopping 840 goals in 760 matches, averaging 1.1 goals per game throughout his career.
5. Lionel Messi – 884 goals
If including the goals that Messi scored with Barcelona B and at youth level for Argentina, he’s technically scored 911 goals. However, for the purposes of this article, we haven’t included those.
As things stand, his career tally sits at 884 goals in 1126 matches. Throughout his career, he’s averaged a strike every 105 minutes, which is some going considering he isn’t a traditional centre-forward.
What’s even more impressive is the fact that Messi has also produced 392 assists, which is more than any other player on this list.
Still going strong at the age of 38 for Inter Miami, he still looks like he’s got a few years left in him yet.
4. Ronnie Rooke – 934 goals
Rooke played between 1931 and 1961, scoring a total of 934 goals according to the RSSSF.
During his career, he played for the likes of Fulham, Arsenal and Crystal Palace, before dropping down to the lower leagues in his later years.
He scored the bulk of his goals during wartime matches, whilst simultaneously serving for the RAF.
3. Cristiano Ronaldo – 946 goals
Ronaldo is currently third on this list, but there’s a good chance that he retires as the top scorer in football history.
As of writing, he’s only 54 strikes away from becoming the first player to score 1,000 offical goals.
“For me it’s the best mark that I can have in football, to reach, first 900 goals. After, my challenge is 1,000 goals,” CR7 said during an interview last year.
“All the goals that I score, they have video. So I can prove that it’s [real] … But if I don’t have injuries, I want that [goal tally].”
Since joining Al-Nassr, he’s averaged a goal every 98 minutes, meaning that it’ll likely take him another 59 matches before he reaches the 1,000 milestone.
2. Josef Bican – 950 goals
It’s worth stressing that Bican’s career total is disputed, as some sources claim he only scored 805 goals, while others have credited him with over 1,000.
As per the stats of the RSSSF, they claim his official tally sits at 950 goals in 624 appearances.
The striker played between 1931 and 1957, during a period when record-keeping wasn’t as accurate as it is today.
1. Erwin Helmchen – 989 goals
As per the RSSSF, Helmchen is the highest-scoring player in football history with 989 goals in just 582 matches.
While the majority of other players scored the bulk of their goals in a top division, Helmchen spent most of his career playing in the German lower divisions.
He played between 1923 and 1951 and reportedly scored 989 goals in total, making him the highest-scoring player in football history.
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