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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 goalscoring records tumbling throughout his trophy-laden career, becoming the top marksman in the history of both Real Madrid and the Portugal national team.
Jay Bothroyd on the J.League, Part 1
Jay Bothroyd on the J.League, Part 1
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And thanks to a career of goal scoring, Ronaldo has the all-time record for most goals in the history of men's football, as recognized by FIFA. He set the new mark on March 12, 2022 with a hat-trick for Manchester United.
He hasn't looked back since, and today he's bagging goals for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia to pad his lead atop the list of best-ever male scorers.
The Sporting News reached out to FIFA to confirm the list, but the world governing body said it does not keep an official list of the statistics of the goals scored by individual players. That hasn't stopped other outlets, including Goal.com, from listing the following top 10 "FIFA-recognized goals" totals:
Ranking |
Player |
Goals |
1. |
Cristiano Ronaldo |
827 |
2. |
Josef Bican |
805 |
3. |
Lionel Messi |
799 |
4. |
Romario |
772 |
5. |
Pele |
757 |
6. |
Ferenc Puskas |
746 |
7. |
Gerd Muller |
734 |
8. |
Ferenc Deak |
576 |
9. |
Uwe Seeler |
575 |
9. |
Tulio Maravilha |
575 |
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