The 10 players with the most career goals in soccer history

Attempting to figure out who the greatest goal scorer of all time can be a tricky problem to solve. The international governing body for soccer, FIFA, does not hold such statistics, and there are question marks over whether friendly matches should be considered or not.

To avoid any uncertainty, we’ve focused on the top 10 players with the most career goals for club and country in competitive fixtures only, per Wikipedia (via the International Federation of Football History & Statistics as its main source), and the list is a who’s who of incredible goal scoring talent.

10. Joe Bambrick, Northern Ireland (629 goals)

Going all the way back to the 1920s and 30s, we start the countdown with Bambrick. Born in Belfast, he was a prolific scorer in the Irish League and the English football league, with his best spell coming at Linfield. He was prolific during his time there, scoring 286 league goals in just 183 games! The phrase "Head, heel, or toe, slip it to Joe" became famous when talking about Bambrick.

9. Robert Lewandowski, Poland (630 goals)

The Warsaw native bumped Eusebio from this list after a 26-goal season last campaign. The 35-year-old striker has slowed down a bit since moving to La Liga, scoring 59 times in 69 appearances. Lewandowski is the White-Red's all-time leading scorer with 83 goals, but he will be best remembered for his prolificness in a Bayern Munich shirt. His 312 goals, in which 238 came for Bayern in only 253 matches, is the second most in Bundeslia and the most by a non-German.

8. Gerd Muller, Germany (634 goals)

One of the game’s greatest poachers, Muller made a name for himself by being in the right place at the right time. A true striker, he did his best work in and around the six-yard box, and he has a stunning record both for club and country. He spent 15 years with Bayern Munich and scored 365 goals in the Bundesliga – a record that still stands today – while for West Germany, he scored 68 goals in just 62 games. Muller scored winning goals in the 1972 European Cup and 1974 World Cup finals.

7. Jimmy Jones, Northern Ireland (648 goals)

Jones was a key player for Belfast Celtic in the mid-1940s, scoring 62 goals in his first season. The following year his scoring run continued until a Boxing Day clash with Linfield, which ended with a pitch invasion in which opposing supporters broke Jones’ leg. Two years later he joined Glenavon, where he tallied 269 goals in 222 matches. He was the Irish League's leading scorer in six seasons, which was highlighted in 1956-57 season when he netted a record 74 goals.

6. Josef Bican, Austria/Czechoslovakia (722 goals)

According to the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation, Bican is the second-leading scorer all-time (behind Erwin Helmchen of Germany), but he is No. 6 on the more accepted IFFHS list.

Bican began playing for clubs in his native Vienna before scoring for 416 times in 219 matches for Slavia Prague in the 1930s and '40s. He switched national team allegiances to Czechoslovakia and finished with 515 goals in European top-flight club competition.

5. Ferenc Puskas, Hungary (724 goals)

The name Puskas is well known in soccer these days primarily because of the Puskas Award – the prize given out by FIFA for the most beautiful goal each year. He scored over 500 goals in the Hungarian and Spanish leagues, and was a three-time European Cup winner with Real Madrid and 10-time national league champion. For Hungary he scored 84 times in 85 games and led the Magyars to the final of the 1954 World Cup.

4. Romario, Brazil (755 goals)

A 1994 World Cup winner with Brazil, Romario is one of the greatest players from a nation packed full of talent. He is renowned for his famous toe-poke finish and is the fourth-highest goal scorer for the Brazilian national team, with 55 goals in 70 games. Romario scored 155 goals in the Brazilian league, which remains the third-highest tally of any player in the division, split between Flamengo and Vasco da Gama.

3. Pele, Brazil (762 goals)

Including friendlies and noncompetitive games, the Guinness World Record Book has Pele as the greatest goal scorer of all time with 1,279 goals in 1,363 games. Pele was Brazil’s all-time leading scorer with 77 goals in 92 games until being surpassed by Neymar last September. He helped the Selecao win three World Cups in 1958, 1962, and 1970. For Santos, his club in Brazil, Pele remains its all-time top scorer and is credited for coining the phrase "The Beautiful Game."

2. Lionel Messi, Argentina (838 goals)

What’s left to say about Lionel Messi? A record eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, he is one of the GOATs of the game. He holds the record for most goals in La Liga (474), most hat tricks in La Liga (36), and most international goals by a South American player (109), among many others. His legacy at Barcelona, where he spent 16 years, is astonishing and includes 672 goals in all competitions. The 37-year-old continues to add to his tally with Argentina and Major League Soccer's Inter Miami.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal (895 goals)

The 39-year-old seems certain to become the first player in the history of the game to score more than 900 goals for club and country. CR7 has more than 100 goals apiece for Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus, and Portugal, and next season he could add Al Nassr of the Saudi League to that list after scoring 50 times in 51 matches in 2023-24. With 450 goals in just 438 games, Ronaldo is Real Madrid’s highest goal scorer of all time, and he leads that statistic for his country as well, with 130 goals for Portugal in 212 games. Like Messi, it’s hard to do justice to Ronaldo’s legacy in such a short paragraph, but the five-time Ballon d’Or winner has set records that will stand for generations.

Updated by Rick Seto.

Want to learn more?

The top 10 best American soccer players of all time

Top 10 best Italian soccer players of all time

Top 10 best Brazilian soccer players of all time

Top 10 best French soccer players of all time

Top 15 best soccer managers of all time