Football goal scorers all time

There is always debate over who is the man who has scored the most goals in football history. Is it Pele, Ronaldo or Beacon? Pele scored 1,279 goals in 1,363 games and was recognized by Guinness World Records as the player with the most goals in football history. However, these statistics also include goals in friendly matches. Some football associations set Pele's official number of goals at less than 800. In fact Cristiano Ronaldo is the football player with the most goals of all time, he has not retired and his number of goals is still growing. Joseph Beacon, Romario, Lionel Messi, Gerd Muller and Ferenc Puskas are the other top scorers in football history. Here are the 10 highest scoring players in football in the world.

No.1 Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo is considered one of the greatest football players of all time and the highest goalscorer in modern football history. At the end of the 2021-22 season, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner has scored 698 club goals and 133 international goals, winning 32 trophies. He scored a hat-trick against Tottenham Hotspur in March 2022, surpassing Joseph Beacon's 805 goals. He is Real Madrid's all-time top scorer, scoring 450 goals in 438 games. He left Madrid to join Juventus, scoring 101 goals in 134 games. He returned to Manchester United in 2021 and scored more than 20 goals. From 2003 to 2009, he scored 118 goals in all competitions for Manchester United.
Ronaldo is the player with the most goals in international competitions. The Portugal captain broke Ali Daei's record of 109 international goals in September 2021 against Ireland in a World Cup qualifier. He guided Portugal to its first major trophy, Euro 2016, and later took part in the inaugural UEFA Champions League in 2019.

No.2 Joseph Beacon

Joseph Beacon is one of the most prolific goalscorers in football history. FIFA considers him one of the top goal scorers in the world with approximately 805 goals. The Czech Football Association said Becan scored a total of 821 goals, and the RSSSF credited him with 948 goals, including goals in winter competitions and when he was selected to represent regional and city teams. Beacon scored 789 club goals and 29 international goals. He scored 14 goals for Austria, 12 goals for Czechoslovakia and 3 goals for Bohemia and Moravia. Beacon died on December 12, 2001, at the age of 88.

No.3 Messi

Argentine star Lionel Messi is considered one of the greatest players of all time. As a seven-time Ballon d'Or winner, Messi has scored 790 goals for club and country. He holds the record for most goals scored by a single player. In 20 years at Barcelona, he scored 672 goals in 778 games. He became the top scorer in La Liga history with 474 goals. In December 2020, he scored his 644th goal with Barcelona, breaking Pele's record for the most goals in a single club. He left Barcelona in 2021 to join French club Paris Saint-Germain.
Messi made his debut against Hungary in 2005 and has scored 81 international goals so far. He won his first major international trophy by defeating the host Brazil 1-0 in the 2021 Copa America final. Previously, he had reached the America's Cup finals three times and the World Cup finals once, but failed to win an international trophy.

No.4 Romario

Brazilian legend Romario is considered one of the greatest players of all time. Romario is one of the most prolific goalscorers in football history, scoring 780 goals in 1,000 official games. He scored a total of 690 goals at the club, including 165 for PSV, 184 for Flamengo and 266 for Vasco da Gama. He also played for Barcelona, Valencia, Fluminense, Miami FC and several other clubs.
Romario became Brazil's fourth scorer with 55 international goals. In Brazil, he won the 1994 World Cup, the 1989 and 1997 Copa America, and the 1997 Confederations Cup.

No.5 Bailey

Brazilian legend Pele is considered one of the greatest players of all time. He won three World Cups for Brazil in 1858, 1962 and 1970, and became the leading scorer in Brazilian history with 77 international goals. He scored 643 goals in 659 games, making him the top scorer in Santos history, and led the team to the Copa Libertadores and Intercontinental Cup in 1962 and 1963. In December 2020, Lionel Messi scored his 644th goal for Barcelona, breaking the record for most goals in a single game. However, Santos issued a statement saying that Pele's 448 goals in friendly matches were not counted. With the New York Cosmos, he scored 66 goals in 107 games.
Guinness World Records recognizes Pele as the top scorer in history, having scored 1,279 goals in 1,363 games. However, Pele publicly stated on his Instagram that it was 1,283 goals. The RSSSF recorded 775 goals in 840 official matches and the IFFHS recorded 765 official goals for Pele. Different sources have different statistics on Pele's goals.

No.6 Eusebio

Eusebio is a Mozambique-born Portuguese legend. He is even considered Benfica's greatest player and one of the greatest players in football history. He is one of the top goal scorers in football history, scoring 733 goals in 745 games. In a 22-year football career, 15 of which were spent at Benfica, he scored 473 goals in 440 games, winning 11 La Liga titles, five Portuguese Taka titles, and one European Champions League .
Eusebio, nicknamed "The Black Panther", scored 41 international goals in 64 games for Portugal. In the 1966 World Cup, he led Portugal to third place and was also the top scorer.

No.7 Gerd Muller

German legend Gerd Muller is considered one of the greatest goalscorers in football history. With an impressive record of 68 goals in 62 international games and 365 goals in 427 Bundesliga games, Muller is the most successful German forward player in history, nicknamed the Bomber. In addition to countless domestic leagues, he has also won the Champions League, European Nations Cup, and World Cup, the three most important cup competitions for European players, and he not only won the finals of these three most important events. He has a scoring record and has won the Golden Boot in these three events. In summary, except for the World Cup MVP, he has won almost all awards in football and is one of the legendary superstars in the world of football.

No.8 Ferenc Puskas

Hungarian legend Puskas is considered one of the greatest players of all time. A prolific goalscorer, Puskas scored 703 goals in 707 official games, making him one of the best strikers in football history. He scored 619 goals for the club, 375 for Budapest Hoved and 244 for Real Madrid. He won 5 league titles each with Budapest Hoved and Real Madrid.
Puskas led Hungary to a gold medal at the 1952 Olympics and a runner-up finish at the 1954 World Cup. In 85 games in Hungary, he scored 84 international goals. The Puskas Award was established by FIFA in 2009. This is the highest honor awarded to the player who scored the "most beautiful goal" in the past year.

No.9 Jimmy Jones

Northern Ireland legend Jimmy Jones is regarded as one of the greatest scorers in football history. Jones is the all-time leading scorer in the Football League of Ireland with 647 goals, most notably for Northern Ireland club Glenavon. He scored 517 goals for Glenavon and won three Irish League and Irish Cup titles. He is also the record holder for the League of Ireland top scorer for six seasons. The record remains unbroken.

No.10 Joe Bambrick

Joe Bambrick is a League of Ireland legend. A prolific goalscorer, he began his football career at Glentoran and later played for Linfield, Chelsea and Walsall. He scored 509 goals for Linfield in just 8 years, including 286 league goals.
Bambrick scored 12 international goals in 11 games for Ireland. His six goals against Wales in 1930 remain an international record for a British Isles player.