Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are prolific goalscorers, but neither feature on this list, due to the ruthless nature of some of football’s greatest ever forwards. Here we look at the top ten footballers who’ve scored the most career goals.
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Uwe Seeler
Goals: 575 Matches: 649
Seeler played for Hamburger SV from 1946 to 1972 and the West German team from 1953 to 1970. He also spent one year playing for Cork Celtic in 1978. The striker was known for his overhead kicks and aerial ability and is regarded as one of Germany’s greatest ever players. He’s scored the second highest number of goals for a German player.
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Ferenc Puskas
Goals: 754 Matches: 1123
Puskas is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. He spent 12 years playing for Budapest Honved, before leaving for Real Madrid in 1958. He scored seven goals in two European Cup finals for Real Madrid and won four Pichichis in his time in Spain. He gave his name to a FIFA award and it’s given for players who’ve scored the “most beautiful goals”.
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Eusebio
Goals: 790 Matches: 809
The Portugal striker played for a number of clubs in his career and he’s regarded as one of the finest players of his generation. He was the top goalscorer in the 1966 World Cup and received a number of awards, including the Ballon d’Or, 11 Primeira Liga titles, five Taca de Portugal titles, a European Cup and three more European finals. He’s listed as the eighth greatest goalscorer in European Cup history and was also the first European Golden Boot winner.
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Alfredo Di Stefano
Goals: 810 Matches: 665
Di Stefano played for River Plate, Huracan, Millonarios, Real Madrid and Espanyol in a 21-year playing career and also represented three different countries. He’s the fifth highest scorer in Spain’s top division and Real Madrid’s third highest goalscorer of all time. He was known for his pace and creativity and the Royal Spanish Football Federation named him as the Golden Player of Spain.
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Romario
Goals: 923 Matches: 1220
Romario played in two World Cup finals, winning one of them and is one of the finest Brazilian players of all time. He’s the third highest goalscorer for the national team, as well as being top scorer in the Brazilian league four times in a row.
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Franz Binder
Goals: 1006 Matches: 756
Binder spent his entire career at Rapid Wien, spanning 19 years from 1930 to 1949. He won four league titles with Rapid, as well as winning the German league in 1941. He later went on to coach the side and is one of five players to have scored over 1000 goals in his career.
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Pele
Goals: 1284 Matches: 1375
Pele is regarded as the greatest footballer of all time, most notably for his feats with the Brazilian national team, who he lead to three World Cup wins. 541 of his goals were classified as league goals, whilst some of his World Cup goals are still being talked about today.
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Arthur Friedenreich
Goals: 1329 Matches: 1239
Friedenreich paved the way for black players in the sport, with a career starting in 1909 and ending in 1935. He made his first appearance for Brazil in 1914 and by 1925 was named the “King of Football”. He was the first Afro-Brazilian professional footballer.
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Gerd Muller
Goals: 1461 Matches: 1216
Muller was renowned for his finishing, especially in the box and scored 68 goals in 62 appearances for West Germany. He also broke records at Bayern Munich, scoring 365 goals in 427 Bundesliga games and a German record 66 goals in 74 European club games. He’s listed twelfth on the list of all time goalscorers, despite playing fewer matches than any other player in the top 25.
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Josef Bican
Goals: 1468 Matches: 918
Bican is the most prolific goalscorer in the history of football, but his record is based on theory, rather than proof. He started his career in 1928 at Schustek in Czech Republic and later went on to play for both Austria and Czechoslovakia. He was renowned for his ability with both feet and he was posthumously awarded with the “Golden Ball” for being the greatest goalscorer of the century.
