Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 978 goals in top-level official matches, the most of any player, ahead of Lionel Messi (921) and Pelé (770), as of November 7, 2026. This counts club and country goals together, using one source and one definition. For individual awards see Most Ballon d’Or Wins, and for team honours Most Champions League Titles.
Pictured: Cristiano Ronaldo, #1 with 978 career goals in top-level official matches, in the thumbnail of UEFA’s video of his Portugal goals at the Euros.
| Rank | Player | Career goals | Country | Debut year | Debut decade | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cristiano Ronaldo | 978 | Portugal | 2002 | 2000s | Active |
| 2 | Lionel Messi | 921 | Argentina | 2003 | 2000s | Active |
| 3 | Pelé | 770 | Brazil | 1956 | 1950s | Retired |
| 4 | Romário | 761 | Brazil | 1984 | 1980s | Retired |
| 5 | Ferenc Puskás | 760 | Hungary | 1943 | 1940s | Retired |
| 6 | Josef Bican | 743 | Austria / Czechoslovakia | 1930 | 1930s | Retired |
| 7 | Robert Lewandowski | 697 | Poland | 2004 | 2000s | Active |
| 8 | Jimmy Jones | 659 | Northern Ireland | 1943 | 1940s | Retired |
| 9 | Abe Lenstra | 645 | Netherlands | 1936 | 1930s | Retired |
| 10 | Gerd Müller | 640 | West Germany | 1963 | 1960s | Retired |
| 11 | Joe Bambrick | 634 | Northern Ireland | 1925 | 1920s | Retired |
| 12 | Fernando Peyroteo | 625 | Portugal | 1937 | 1930s | Retired |
| 13 | Luis Suárez | 610 | Uruguay | 2005 | 2000s | Active |
| 14 | Uwe Seeler | 567 | West Germany | 1954 | 1950s | Retired |
| 15 | Glenn Ferguson | 563 | Northern Ireland | 1987 | 1980s | Retired |
| 16 | Zlatan Ibrahimović | 562 | Sweden | 1999 | 1990s | Retired |
| 17 | Jimmy McGrory | 558 | Scotland | 1922 | 1920s | Retired |
| 18 | Eusébio | 555 | Portugal | 1960 | 1960s | Retired |
| 19 | Imre Schlosser | 554 | Hungary | 1906 | 1900s | Retired |
| 20 | Alfredo Di Stéfano | 524 | Argentina / Spain | 1945 | 1940s | Retired |
| 21 | Karim Benzema | 523 | France | 2004 | 2000s | Active |
| 22 | Harry Kane | 514 | England | 2010 | 2010s | Active |
| 22 | Roberto Dinamite | 514 | Brazil | 1971 | 1970s | Retired |
| 24 | Gyula Zsengeréll | 513 | Hungary | 1931 | 1930s | Retired |
| 25 | Zico | 511 | Brazil | 1971 | 1970s | Retired |
No matching rows.
Goals in top-level official matches, club and international, as of November 7, 2026; the source list was last updated after matches on July 19, 2026. The table is RSSSF’s “Best Goalscorers All-Time (Official Matches – Top level)”, which the site itself labels a preliminary list.[1] Its totals for active players are snapshots from that update and will be higher now. “Active” means RSSSF marked the player as still active at that update; this page makes no statement about any player’s current plans. Debut year and country are from the career spans and nationalities in Wikipedia’s list of footballers with 500 or more goals, which uses RSSSF’s separate all-levels count (it includes lower-division and other matches, and puts Ronaldo at 994 and Messi at 948); that is a different definition and its totals are not used here.[2] Guinness World Records’ 1,279 goals for Pelé includes friendlies and exhibition games, so it is shown only in this note.[3] Players tied on the same total share a rank. The list stops at 25; Hugo Sánchez (507), Ferenc Bene (506) and Sándor Kocsis and György Sárosi (505 each) follow.
RSSSF lists Ronaldo first with 978 top-level official goals, club and country combined, and marks him as still active at its July 19, 2026 update.[1] The 900th goal of his career came for Portugal against Croatia on September 5, 2024. The video is UEFA’s compilation of his Portugal goals at the European Championship.
Messi is second with 921 goals and is also marked as active in the same update.[1] He is Barcelona’s all-time top scorer with 672 goals for the club, which is part of that total. The video is the first of FC Barcelona’s series covering every one of them.
RSSSF credits Pelé with 770 goals in top-level official matches.[1] The better-known 1,279 goals in 1,363 games, recognised by Guinness World Records, also counts friendlies and exhibition matches, so it is not comparable with this list.[3] The video is FIFA’s collection of his World Cup goals.
Romário is fourth with 761 goals.[1] Other tallies for him run higher, up to the 785 on RSSSF’s separate all-levels list, which counts lower-division and other matches the top-level list leaves out.[2] The video is FIFA’s clip of his World Cup goals.
Puskás scored 760 top-level goals, one fewer than Romário, playing for Hungary and, later, Spain.[1] He scored four goals in Real Madrid’s 7-3 European Cup final win over Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960, the match in Real Madrid’s own video.
Bican, who played in Austria and Czechoslovakia from 1930, has 743 goals on this list.[1] Other lists credit him with far more, because they include goals in lower-level and other matches; this ranking counts only top-level official ones. No verified official video was available, so an icon is shown.
Lewandowski has 697 goals and is the third active player in the top ten, with the figure marked active at RSSSF’s update.[1] The video is FC Barcelona’s compilation of his goals for the club.
Jones, a Northern Ireland forward who debuted in 1943, is listed as James Jones with 659 goals.[1] The list counts goals in top-level official matches only, so goals in other kinds of matches are not included (RSSSF’s all-levels list puts him at 840 or more). No verified official video was available, so an icon is shown.
Lenstra, a Dutch forward who debuted in 1936, has 645 goals.[1] He is the only Dutch player in this table’s top 25. No verified official video was available, so an icon is shown.
Müller completes the top ten with 640 goals, scored from his 1963 debut onward for West Germany and in club football.[1] Other tallies for him are higher (735 on RSSSF’s all-levels list), because they count more matches.[2] The video is FC Bayern’s documentary on him.