Most Goals in Football History

Cristiano Ronaldo has scored more than 900 senior career goals for club and country, the most in recognized football history, and as an active player he is still adding to the total. Lionel Messi is next among modern players with more than 850, and the two have spent two decades rewriting a list that older legends once dominated.

Counting goals across football history sounds simple, but it is one of the most argued-over records in sport. The reason is that there has never been a single agreed definition of what counts, so the same player can have wildly different totals depending on whether friendlies and unofficial matches are included. Here is the all-time leaderboard, the record-holder at the top, and the counting nuance that explains why the numbers move around. All figures are as of the 2025 season.

The record holder: Cristiano Ronaldo and 900+ goals

Ronaldo crossed 900 senior career goals during 2024, a milestone no other player is known to have reached in official competitive football. His total spans Sporting CP, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus, Al Nassr and a record-breaking Portugal career, and because he was still playing into 2025, the figure keeps climbing. Exact counts vary slightly by source, which is why he is best described as being past 900 rather than pinned to a single number.

What makes Ronaldo’s mark so solid is that it is built almost entirely on documented, official senior matches. There is no reliance on tour games or exhibitions to reach the top, which is exactly what separates it from some of the huge historical totals below.

The full leaderboard of all-time goalscorers

The table below ranks the highest recognized senior career goalscorers. Active players are marked, and historical totals are the widely cited recognized figures rather than the inflated all-inclusive counts.

Rank	Goals	Player	Country	Era
1	900+*	Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	2002-present
2	850+*	Lionel Messi	Argentina	2004-present
3	762	Pele	Brazil	1956-1977
4	759	Josef Bican	Austria/Czech.	1931-1955
5	756	Romario	Brazil	1985-2009
6	746	Ferenc Puskas	Hungary	1943-1966
7	735	Gerd Muller	West Germany	1962-1981
8	700+*	Robert Lewandowski	Poland	2006-present
9	668	Ferenc Deak	Hungary	1940-1954
10	656	Uwe Seeler	West Germany	1953-1972

*Active player; total is current as of the 2025 season and still rising. Historical totals are disputed and vary by source.

The list splits neatly into two groups: the two modern superstars, whose every goal is logged in the television era, and a set of mid-20th-century scorers whose records are harder to verify and are quoted differently by different historians.

Lionel Messi and the counting debate

Messi sits second with more than 850 senior goals, spread across Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Miami and Argentina. He and Ronaldo are the only players in the modern, fully documented era to approach these heights, which is why their rivalry defines the record. On raw goals Ronaldo leads; Messi’s supporters point to his assists, dribbling and a peak many rate as the highest ever, plus the 2022 World Cup that completed his collection. Messi’s international scoring also features on our leaderboard of the most World Cup goals.

Because both are active, the totals are a moving target, but the order at the very top has been stable for years.

Why Pele’s 1,000 is not on the list

Pele is often said to have scored 1,283 goals, and that number is genuine to the club he played for. It simply includes friendlies, exhibition matches and international tours that most modern record-keepers exclude. In recognized senior competitive football his total is around 762, which still ranks among the greatest ever. The same logic applies to Josef Bican and Romario, whose highest quoted figures shrink once unofficial games are stripped out. This is the heart of the debate: the “most goals” answer depends on the rules of the count.

Why the record matters

Goalscoring is football’s headline statistic, so the all-time list is one of the sport’s most scrutinized. Ronaldo’s position at the top is secure in recognized senior goals, but the arguments around historical totals are a reminder that records are only as clear as the definitions behind them. The greatest scorers also tend to anchor the game’s most successful teams and leagues, the kind that pile up trophies on the most Premier League titles list, while the players who last longest climb charts like the most Premier League appearances leaderboard.

The short version: Cristiano Ronaldo holds the record for the most goals in recognized football history with more than 900 senior career goals, ahead of Lionel Messi’s 850-plus, with historical greats such as Pele, Bican and Romario next once their totals are limited to official matches. Both leaders are active as of the 2025 season, so the numbers are still climbing.