The 10 Players With The Most Goals In Football HISTORY!
Since the inception of football, only a select few have ever scored more than 700 goals and in today’s video, we've counted down the 10 players with the most goals in football history. For the video, we've used stats provided by the RSSSF. Will Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi end their careers with 1000+ goals scored? Let us know in the comments!
Transcript
Scoring goals is the aim of the game, but who has the most in football history? In today's video, we're going to be counting down the top 10. Now, for the purposes of today's video, we're going to be using the numbers provided by the recording sports soccer statistics foundation. When it comes to historical data, a few other data providers have slightly different numbers, but these are the numbers we're basing this video on. And for the context of today's video, we're only counting goals scored in official matches, but obviously with the caveat of international friendly goals also being counted. Before we do get into the top 10, I'll also name some honorable mentions, the first of which is Robert Lewandowski, who scored 751 official goals. Now that he's moved over to MLS in particular, by the time he retires, he'll almost certainly be part of this list. Although, as of recording right now, he just falls short. Another honorable mention who just misses out is Gerd Müller, Bayern Munich's highest goalscorer of all time. Across all competitions, he scored a whopping 735 goals in official matches, which is some tally. But, perhaps the most disputed player who does miss out on our top 10 is Pelé, who, according to the data provider we're using for this video, scored 778 official goals. Now, obviously with Pelé, if we do include goals scored in friendly matches and exhibition games, he scored over 1,200. But, that's the important distinction we're making for this video, we're only counting official matches. And going off Pelé's official tally, he'd be 11th on this list. But, there are enough honorable mentions. Now, without any further ado, let's jump into the official top 10. So, to kick off the list in 10th place, we've got Romário. Like with Pelé, Romário himself also claims to have scored over 1,000 goals, and while that is technically true, his tally of over 1,000 goals does include strikes from non-official matches, which we won't be counting for the purposes of this video. Strictly talking about official games that Romário played, he scored 785 goals in 1,003 matches throughout his illustrious career, which is still some record and is enough to get him a place in the top 10 of this video, even of both Pelé. Romário is undoubtedly one of the all-time greats. He had a prolific track record with the likes of PSV, Barcelona, and several of the Brazilian clubs he played for, along with the national team as well. Only counting his official goals, he's 10th on this list. Coming in ninth place, we've got former Dutch forward Abe Lenstra, who scored an impressive 790 goals. He had a career which spanned over 28 years from 1936 to 1964. He scored the bulk of his goals for Heerenveen in the Netherlands and has since had their stadium named after him, showing his legacy still lives on to this day. Coming in eighth place, we've got Hungarian forward Ferenc Deák, who scored six goals in his professional debut match back in 1940 and from that point onwards didn't slow down. Now, his overall career tally is disputed by a few different sources for how many official goals he actually scored, but for the data provider we're using for this video, he scored 795 goals in just 515 professional matches, which is an average of 1.54 goals per game, making him one of the most prolific players in football history, although the record keeping back in the 1940s wasn't always as tight as it is today. Coming in seventh place, we've got another Hungarian forward, it's Ferenc Puskás, who I'm sure plenty of the modern generation are familiar with because of his icon card in FIFA. He's widely recognized as one of the greatest strikers of all time, obviously, it's where the Puskás Award comes from. He retired from the professional game in 1967 with 802 goals to his name. He spent the first 13 years of his career playing in Hungary before then making the lucrative move to Real Madrid, where he continued to score goals for fun. Undoubtedly one of the best of his generation, and his legacy is still felt heavily today in both Hungary and the remainder of the footballing world. Coming in sixth place, we've got Northern Ireland forward Jimmy Jones, who spent the bulk of his career playing in Northern Ireland between 1943 and 1965, where he scored a whopping 840 goals in just 760 appearances. Now, obviously, having played in Northern Ireland, he wasn't playing at the very top level or the most competitive division compared to some of the other players on this list. But, a goal is still a goal no matter where you score it, and his legacy has to be respected, especially when you're bagging over 800 goals. Coming in fifth, we've got the one and only Lionel Messi, who, as of recording, has scored a whopping 919 goals for both club and country combined. Now, the most impressive thing about Messi isn't necessarily his goal output, it's the fact he's got over 400 assists to go along with this. By far the most assists of any player on this list. In total, he's played 1,164 matches and has 1,337 goal contributions, which speaks to the genius of Messi. Now, chances are, by the time you guys are watching this video, if you're watching it a week or a few months after it's come out, Messi could have climbed a few places on this list. But, going off the numbers right now, he takes the fifth spot. Another really impressive thing about Messi's goal output is the fact that he's not a traditional center forward. Spent the majority of his career either playing on the right winger or as a false nine. And in two the latter stages of his career, he's continued to drop deeper and deeper and get involved in more play making. He showcased at the World Cup earlier this year that he's still capable of producing at the very top level, even at the ripe old age of 39. Could he hit a thousand goals before he retires? I think it's definitely feasible. Taking the fourth spot, we've got former Arsenal and Crystal Palace striker Ronnie Rook, who scored a whopping 934 goals throughout his career. He actually enjoyed the peak years of his career whilst playing for Fulham, whilst also simultaneously serving in the RAF. This was during World War II, and he did score a lot of goals in wartime matches. But, as per the stats we're using for this video, he did score 934 official goals, which is some going. Coming in at the third spot, we've got Josef Bican with 950 official goals. Now, his overall career tally is disputed by several different sources. Some claim he only scored 805 official goals, whereas other stats websites have credited him with over a thousand. But, in terms of the source we're using for today's video, they credited him with 950. So, that's the figure we'll be using there. Feel free to fight that out in the comments down below if you want to. Amazingly, using the stats we've got, he actually scored those 950 goals in just 624 official matches. So, averaged 1.52 goals per game throughout his career, which ran from 1931 to 1957. Obviously, a period where the record keeping wasn't 100% watertight like it is now. But, he enjoyed his peak years playing for Slavia Prague and has the legacy to show for it. Just missing out on the top spot for the time being and claiming the second spot on this list, it's Cristiano Ronaldo with a staggering 976 goals to his name as of recording. Now, obviously, Ronaldo has made it no secret before he retires he wants to hit that 1,000 goal landmark, and in all likelihood he should hit that figure at some point next season providing that he does remain injury-free. He's only 24 goals away from scoring his a thousandth goal, and despite being 41 with the record he's been scoring at whilst playing for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, shouldn't have too many problems reaching that tally this season. Love him or hate him, the most impressive thing about Ronaldo is how he's been able to reinvent himself in his later years to become this absolute goal machine. He seamlessly made that transition from the flash skillful winger at Manchester United in the early years at Real Madrid to the absolute inevitable force which he's become today. In total he scored 976 goals in just 1,330 matches. He also has 261 assists to his name on top of that as well. In official matches that currently makes him the second highest goal scorer in football history. Although he'll almost certainly surpass the top spot on this list who we'll speak about now. So the number one spot on today's list goes to Germany striker Erwin Helmchen who played between 1923 and 1951. And as per the stats we're using for today's video, scored 989 official goals in just 582 matches. Now the slight caveat that comes along with Helmchen is the fact that he did score the bulk of his goals whilst playing in the German lower divisions. So unlike Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Romario, or plenty of the players we've spoken about previously who scored most of their goals in a top division, Helmchen did spend most of his career playing in the lower leagues so obviously would have naturally found it easier to score playing against lesser opposition. Along with holding the record for the most goals in football history, he also holds the record for the most hat-tricks in football history with 142 to his name. Obviously most of them also came in the German lower divisions. Or a goal is still a goal and as of recording this video right now, he's the top dog in football history surely when it comes to goal output. But there we have it. As per the stats we used for today's video, no player has officially scored 1,000 goals. So Cristiano Ronaldo will become the first player to do it if he manages to get over the line in the coming months with Al Nassar. Will Lionel Messi also reach that thousand goal tally? Let us know in the comments down below. Apart from that, thank you very much for watching. Make sure to hit subscribe if you are new to the Planet Football YouTube channel. We're bringing out weekly videos at the moment and I've got plenty more to come in the future. Apart from that, thanks tuning in and we'll see you all in the next one.