In brief
The two greatest men’s football players in history, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, are still able to break their own records.
With a career total of 626 goals, Joe Bambrick—a name that many people are unfamiliar with—is ranked 10th on the list.
Among the greatest men’s football players in history include Eusebio, Gerd Muller, Josef Bican, Romario, Pele, and Ferenc Puskas.
Over the years, football has produced some of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen, but those who can score goals on the largest stage are usually the ones who most captivate the fans. Glory is frequently saved for those who stand up and put the ball in the net when it counts most, whether in the Premier League, the Champions League, the World Cup, or any other major competition.
Talented technicians, aerial artists, and prolific poachers have all contributed to the game’s greatest goal scorers. With the exception of the ball’s shape, which has always resulted in the back of the net rippling, they have been dispersed over the past century and have little in common.
In football, supporters have witnessed innumerable elite finishers. Here is a list of the top scorers in the sport based just on the quantity of goals they scored for their club and country, disregarding success and style.
Only goals from top-tier domestic and international football are taken into account. The second rung and down are disregarded.
Top-Scoring Football Players for Men
Rank
The player
Country of origin
Professional Objectives
1.
Ronaldo Cristiano
Portugal
924
2.
Lionel Messi
Argentina
852
3.
Pele
Brazil
762
4.
Romario
Brazil
756
5.
Puskas Ferenc
Spain and Hungary
725
6.
Josef Bican
Czechoslovakia, Austria
722
7.
Lewandowski, Robert
Poland
678
8.
Jones, Jimmy
Ireland’s northern region
639
9.
Gerd Muller
Germany
634
10.
Joe Bambrick
Ireland’s northern region
626
11.
Abe Lenstra
The Netherlands
624
12.
Suarez Luis
Uruguay
580
13.
Eusebio
Portugal
578
14.
Glenn Ferguson
Ireland’s northern region
563
15.
Ibrahimovic, Zlatan
Sweden
561
Best all-time goalscorers image gallery
15Zlatan Ibrahimovic
561 career goals between 1999-2023
The man who opens this list doesn’t need an introduction. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a legend of Swedish football and, in his own words, is arguably the best player of all time. He was unique not only because he was a fantastic goal scorer (he is, for instance, his country’s all-time top scorer), but also because of the persona he embodied and his assertive character. He was a charismatic player who was well-liked everywhere he went, and his stints with Barcelona, Juventus, Ajax, LA Galaxy, Inter Milan
14Glenn Ferguson
563 career goals between 1987-2011https://twitter.com/OfficialBlues/status/1148881552421609472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1148881552421609472%7Ctwgr%5E6bd43d84107f8579631c8e64306d139a2f486452%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.givemesport.com%2Ftop-football-soccer-goalscorers-of-all-time%2F
The name Glenn Ferguson could seem familiar even if you’ve never followed the Northern Irish league. After all, the striker has developed his entire stellar career here. The Belfast-born forward spent 24 years on Northern Ireland’s playing grounds, playing for Ards, Glenavon, Linfield, and Lisburn Distillery. He participated in over 1,000 official games during that time.
This could be the reason he has only made five appearances for his nation in more over 20 years. In any case, Ferguson will be remembered for a very long time as Northern Irish soccer’s second-best goal scorer. And it’s no little accomplishment.
13 Eusebio 578 career aspirations from 1960 to 1978
Eusebio spent most of his brilliant career playing for Portuguese club Benfica, with whom he won the 1962 European Cup and no fewer than eleven league titles. An exceptional player, a complete striker, who left his mark on an entire generation and whose exploits are still recounted today.
Although he never won a trophy with his national team, he remains one of the greatest Portuguese players of all time, winning the Ballon d’Or in 1965 ( he is the 7th youngest player of all time to have achieved this feat) and twice being named Footballer of the Year (1970, 1973).
12Luis Suarez
580 career goals from 2005 to modern day
Luis Suarez’s professional career will celebrate its 20th anniversary in the 2025 season. An extraordinary journey in which the Uruguayan made his stamp on football history. The center-forward has played for some of the best teams in history, including Ajax, Barcelona, and Liverpool, where he established an outstanding reputation.
He went so far as to be regarded by many as the best number nine of his generation. The international with 143 caps (69 goals) is using his last moments on the pitch to try and write a little more of his legend. He is currently playing for Inter Miami, where he has been reunited with his friends Lionel Messi, Jordi Alba, and Sergio Busquets.
11 Abe Lenstra’s 624 career aspirations from 1936 to 1963
On this day in 1920 Abe Lenstra was born. 🌟#NothingLikeOranje pic.twitter.com/OQ00vjSfh4
— OnsOranje (@OnsOranje) November 27, 2024
Abe Lenstra is regarded as one of the greatest Batavian players of all time and is the most renowned player in the history of Dutch club Heerenven (though he also had stints with SC Enschede and Enschedese Boys). He is the player with the most appearances (651) and the highest scorer (565).
A player who has had such an impact that his team has even chosen to rename their stadium after him. The two-time Dutch Sportsman of the Year (1951 and 1952) also scored 33 goals in his 19 years with the team and earned 47 caps for his country. a Dutch player’s record longevity.
10 Joe Bambrick’s 626 career aspirations from 1926 to 1943
This list includes a name that is unfamiliar. Throughout his career, Joe Bambrick scored 626 goals in official matches, which is an alarming rate. In addition to playing for Glentoran, Chelsea, and Walsall, the Northern Irishman once scored fifty goals in a single league season for Linfield in 1930–31.
The Blues’ 1-1 tie with Arsenal in October 1935, which also occurred to be the club’s most attended game at Stamford Bridge with 82,905 spectators, saw Bambrick score the lone goal for the team. He only made 11 appearances for the Ireland national football team on the international scene, which up until 1950 chose players from all throughout Ireland. Despite this, he scored 12 goals, including six against Wales.
9 Gerd Muller’s 634 career aspirations from 1964 to 1981
Gerd Muller may not have been the most technically proficient or graceful center-forward to ever play, but his incredible 634 career goals demonstrate how he turned being in the right position at the right time into an art. With 523 goals, “Der Bomber” holds the record for most goals scored by Bayern Munich. He also has 365 goals, making him the most prolific goal scorer in the history of the Bundesliga.
The greatest football strikers of all time, including Thierry Henry, Pele, and Ronaldo
Associated 20 Football’s Greatest Strikers (Ranked)
This list of the greatest number nines in history includes Ronaldo, Pele, and Thierry Henry.
4.
Muller ranks third among all-time World Cup scorers, and only Miroslav Klose has scored more goals for Germany. With four Bundesliga crowns, four German Cups, three European Cups, a World Cup, a European Championship, and the 1970 Ballon d’Or under his belt, he finished his career with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, scoring 38 goals in 71 NASL games. What a trophy cabinet.
8 Jimmy Jones’s 639 career aspirations from 1947 to 1964
With 639 goals, Jones is surprisingly the second Northern Irishman to make this list. He was nearly unstoppable and worked in his native country for the majority of his career. Over an 11-year span, he had his best time at Glenavon, where he led the Irish League goalscoring statistics in six different seasons. Jones continues to be the most prolific goal scorer in Irish League football history.
During his tenure at Glenavon and Belfast Celtic, he won 17 trophies in all. In Wales and other parts of his native country, Jones was also very prolific. He scored 27 goals in 19 games for Belfast Celtic before a Linfield fan fractured his leg during a match between the two teams. Jones’s accomplishments are all the more impressive considering that incident left him out of commission for 15 months following leg-saving surgery.
7 Robert Lewandowski’s 678 professional aspirations from 2008 until the present
The father of Robert Lewandowski foresaw great things for his infant son. ‘Robert’ was the name Lewandowski Sr. picked to make his son’s name easily recognisable and pronounceable to a global audience. Given how often they have had to shout his child’s name in honour of yet another goal, countless commentators undoubtedly owe him a debt of gratitude.
Thomas Muller, Lewandowski’s teammate at Bayern Munich, coined the apt moniker ‘LewanGOALski’ for the Pole. One of the best strikers in Champions League history, by whatever name you choose, had a sluggish Bundesliga career before settling into a groove with Borussia Dortmund in 2011.
With a committed commitment to diet and exercise, Lewandowski was able to prolong his incredible peak for over 10 years, looking for every small margin of advantage. The Barcelona striker sleeps on his left side to protect his preferred right leg because he is such a meticulous person.
6Josef Bican
722 career goals between 1931-1955
Josef Bican was a continual threat to defenders, whether in his own Austria or his chosen country of Czechoslovakia. Even when many of his football opponents were serving in the Second World War, he continued to produce a lot of work.
Bican’s undisputed accomplishments include his three seven-goal haul matches, his streak of goals in 19 straight top-tier games, and his five years in a row as the world’s top goalscorer—a record that still stands today. However, he did once make the somewhat unrealistic claim that he had scored more than 5,000 goals. Additionally, he continues to be Slavia Prague’s top scorer of all time.
5Ferenc Puskas
725 career goals between 1943-1966
Ferenc Puskás once led Hungary to a 7-1 thumping of England in 1954 to give you an indication of his skill level. In a spectacular display, the attack-minded player scored two of his 725 official career goals, making him the day’s main attraction. He originally gained notoriety with Budapest Honved, where he was four times the top scorer in the Hungarian first division. He was lovingly known as “The Galloping Major.”
Then, in 1956, he joined the first Real Madrid Galacticos team and, with players like Raymond Kopa, Francisco Gento, and Alfredo Di Stefano, conquered Europe. He won three European Cups and five straight La Liga titles while he was in the capital. Not unexpectedly, he continues to hold the record for most goals scored by Hungary. In 2009, FIFA even dedicated a trophy after him, the Puskas Award going to the player who scores the finest goal of the year.
4Romario
756 career goals between 1985-2007
Vasco da Gama’s impressive record persuaded Dutch team PSV to hire him, and Romario paid them back by scoring nearly a goal per game for five seasons. During that period, he also assisted PSV in winning three league crowns and KNVB Cups.
Later on in his career, he continued to score goals both domestically and internationally, leading Barcelona to the 1994 La Liga title. For Brazil, ‘Baixinho’ (The Little One) has scored more goals than anyone but Neymar, Pele, and Ronaldo.
3Pele
762 career goals between 1957-1977
With 762 official goals over his illustrious career, Pele, the king of football, is still regarded by some as the best football player of all time. It is difficult to keep track of all of his goals because of his heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, when records were not kept with precision. Many people think he scored more than 1,000 goals during his career, but we do know he is Santos’ all-time top scorer.
Pele scored twelve of his 77 Selecao goals during the World Cup, when he also won three, setting a record that is unlikely to be matched, let alone surpassed. Pele played his entire career in his native country, where he won two Copa Libertadores trophies and six Brazilian Serie A titles, except from a brief stint as the NASL’s main attraction with the New York Cosmos. Before a new age began, the renowned striker held the record for the most goals scored in the world for around 30 years.
2Lionel Messi
852 goals from 2004 to modern day
He leads his nation in goals as well, and eight Ballon d’Or awards have been given to him in recognition of his achievements. And to think that without growth hormone therapy, all of it would not have happened because his childhood small stature threatened to ruin his future career. After scoring seven goals in Qatar and winning the Best Player title, Messi’s wish came realised in 2022 when he won the World Cup for the first time in his career.
1 Cristiano Ronaldo 924 goals from 2002 and the present
Even though his rival Messi has more Ballon d’Or awards, Cristiano Ronaldo can take solace in the fact that he is the most prolific goal scorer in history. No player has ever scored as many goals for Real Madrid (450 goals in 438 games), and he leads the pack for Portugal. In fact, Ronaldo has scored more goals for his country than any other male player at the international level. Despite turning 40 in February 2025, the former Manchester United and Juventus star has demonstrated that he still has a lot to offer both club and country. In a truly remarkable career, the Portuguese ace can still write another chapter or two in his lengthy legacy.
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