IFFHS ALL TIME BEST CLUB GOAL SCORERS RANKING

• Feb 17, 2022
• History Statistics

IFFHS All-Time best club goal-scorers: Cristiano Ronaldo now on top!

The first goal Cristiano Ronaldo scored in 2022 (the goal vs Brighton that broke his 6-match drought) turned historic: it set the Portuguese equal to Romário's world record for club goals. 
Now they both have 689 goals amassed in all top-level club competitions. Cristiano Ronaldo is placed higher due to tie-breaker (more international goals). 
We publish an updated ranking for the best club goal-scorers in the history of world football. Lionel Messi occupies 5th position in it, being just 10 goals behind the co-record holders. Although he became significantly less prolific since moving to Paris SG, we can still expect him to outpace Pelé, Bican and Romário in the coming months and possibly even rival Cristiano Ronaldo for this record.

	ALL-TIME BEST	CLUB GOAL-SCORERS
	Player	Nationality	Period	League		Cups		ICC		Total	Total	Total	Sum
				NL	RL	NC	OC	CT	ICT	Leagues	Cups	ICC
1	Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	2002-	488		41	10	143	7	488	51	150	689
2	Romário	Brazil	1985-2007	311	233	51	40	50	4	544	91	54	689
3	Josef Bican	Austria, BM, Czechoslovakia	1931-1955	518		67	62	41		518	129	41	688
4	Pelé	Brazil	1957-1977	138	468	49		17	10	606	49	27	682
5	Lionel Messi	Argentina	2004-	476		56	14	128	5	476	70	133	679
6	Ferenc Puskás	Hungary, Spain	1943-1966	514		69	7	53	2	514	76	55	645
7	Jimmy Jones	Northern Ireland	1947-1964	332		43	258	2		332	301	2	635
8	Joe Bambrick	Northern Ireland	1926-1943	348		40	207			348	247		595
9	Eusébio	Portugal	1957-1978	422		97		57	2	422	97	59	578
10	Gerd Müller	Germany	1964-1981	405		78	14	68	1	405	92	69	566
11	Glenn Ferguson	Northern Ireland	1987-2011	313		56	186	6		313	242	6	561
12	Jimmy McGrory	Scotland	1922-1937	409		77	54			409	131		540
13	Fernando Peyroteo	Portugal	1937-1949	332	132	70	2	3		464	72	3	539
14	Uwe Seeler	Germany	1954-1978	179	267	24	17	21		446	41	21	508
15	Alfredo Di Stéfano	Argentina, Spain	1945-1966	376		55		57	13	376	55	70	501

NL = National Leagues 
RL = Regional Leagues (taken in account only having the strength comparable to national league; Campeonato Carioca in the case of Romário, Campeonato Paulista for Pelé, Lisbon Championship for Peyroteo, Oberliga Nord for Seeler).
NC = (main) National Cups
OC  = other (relevant) domestic cups
ICC = International Club Competitions
CT = Continental tournaments
ICT = InterContinental (world) tournaments (of appropriate level)