Pele, Messi, Ronaldo: Who has scored the most official goals in football? | OneFootball

Pele is unquestionably one of the greatest players to ever grace a football pitch and his goalscoring record proves it.

The Brazilian legend passed away at the age of 82 on Thursday, with countless players, including Cristiano Ronaldo, paying tribute to the great man.

For many, Pele epitomised the way the sport should be played and is widely credited with connecting the phrase “The Beautiful Game” with football.

Having made his professional debut at 15 and enjoyed a career spanning 21 years, the Brazilian’s goalscoring statistics are truly something to behold.

Though he never played in Europe and spent most of his career playing for Santos, he was still a goal machine, though his official tally is widely disputed.

How many goals did Pele score in his career?

There is much debate surrounding how many goals Pele scored, especially given the lack of existing video evidence from his career.

The Guinness World Records say the Brazilian scored 1279 goals, though the man himself saw it differently.

Indeed, back in 2015, Pele tweeted: “I have scored 1283 goals in my life.”

Yet, while Pele is likely to be a better judge than most when it comes to goals he scored, the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation believe the Brazilian scored 1303 goals in 1392 matches.

Who has the most official goals in football history?

The RSSSF has Pele as the eighth top men’s scorer of all time if you include all goals in all matches.

However, many of Pele’s goals came in unofficial games and friendlies, meaning his tally is sometimes considered to be significantly lower.

As per the RSSSF, Pele ranks third in the “Best Goalscorers [of] All Time” list, if you only count official matches at the top level.

In total, Pele scored 769 ‘official’ goals –– behind only Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Ronaldo has 821 official goals and counting, while Messi is only just behind on 795.

Rounding out the top five are Romario and Ferenc Puskás, who both scored 761 goals.

Former Austrian star Josef Bican is sixth on 743, ahead of James Jones and Abe Lenstra, who are well behind on 660 and 645 respectively.

Gerd Müller and Joseph Bambrick close out the top 10, with Robert Lewandowski 12th on the list currently.

There are no female players on the RSSSF’s list at the moment, owing to the lack of statistical data compiled on the women’s game until fairly recently.

However, Canadian star Christine Sinclair is the highest international goalscorer, male or female, of all time, with 190 international goals.

US legend Abby Wambach is second on the list, with 158, ahead of compatriots Mia Hamm and Carli Lloyd.

Pele’s legacy

Regardless of whether you count Pele’s goals in friendlies, he has no doubt left a lasting legacy in football.

A three-time winner of the World Cup, he has been described as “the greatest” by FIFA and was one of two joint winners of the FIFA Player of the Century, alongside Diego Maradona.

If you’re looking for proof of his greatness, then look no further than his goal in the 1958 World Cup final.

The Brazilian was truly one of a kind.