LUIS SUAREZ POWER 400
Luis Suárez: 400 league goals in the career
Luis Suárez, whom we recently congratulated for scoring the 500th goal of his club career, is back in the spotlight for his new milestone.
The goal scored by the Uruguayan forward on 2 June for Inter Miami vs St. Louis City (3-3) was his 400th in various top-level leagues.
He became the 18th player in history to reach this milestone and one of the three active ones, along with Cristiano Ronaldo and “El Pistolero”’s current partner Lionel Messi.
We publish an updated historical world ranking for the top league goal-scorers.
The top national divisions (NL) only are taken into account, along with some others leagues (OL), considered relevant:
regional leagues (also only top divisions),
war-time leagues in various countries,
parallel leagues (in few cases, two or more leagues existed at same time in same country being at least formally independent from each other).
Pelé holds the record in this category with 604 goals.
Several players (Alf Quill, Reg Date, Erwin Helmchen, Dadá Maravilha) are mentioned but not classified due to their overwhelming number of goals scored in regional leagues of modest strength (though still formally being a top tier of national football pyramide).
| ALL-TIME BEST | GOAL | SCORERS | IN | DOMESTIC LEAGUES | |||
| Player | Nationality | Career | NL | OL | Goals | Breakdown | |
| Erwin Helmchen | Germany | 1923-1951 | 23 | 690 | 713 | Germany 23, South-East Germany 151, Central Germany 247, | |
| Gauliga Saxony 219, Bezirk Chemnitz 72, Oberliga Nord 1 | |||||||
| 1 | Pelé | Brazil | 1957-1977 | 138 | 466 | 604 | Paulista 466, Brazil 101, USA (NASL) 37 |
| Alf Quill | Australia | 1927-1949 | 595 | 595 | New South Wales 595 | ||
| 2 | Abe Lenstra | Netherlands | 1936-1963 | 289 | 284 | 573 | Netherlands North 284, Netherlands 289 |
| 3 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Portugal | 2002- | 547 | 547 | Portugal 3, England 103, Spain 311, Italy 81, Saudi Arabia 49 | |
| 4 | Romário | Brazil | 1985-2007 | 293 | 252 | 545 | Carioca 233, Brazil 155, Netherlands 98, Spain 39, |
| USA (USL) 19, Australia 1 | |||||||
| 5 | Ferenc Puskás | Hungary, Spain | 1943-1966 | 516 | 516 | Hungary 359, Spain 157 | |
| 6 | Josef Bican | Austria, BM, CS | 1931-1955 | 515 | 515 | Austria 71, Czechoslovakia & Bohemia-Moravia 444 | |
| 7 | Lionel Messi | Argentina | 2004- | 509 | 509 | Spain 474, France 22, USA (MLS) 13 | |
| 8 | Roberto Dinamite | Brazil | 1971-1992 | 192 | 284 | 476 | Carioca 284, Brazil 190, Spain 2 |
| 9 | Fernando Peyroteo | Portugal | 1937-1949 | 332 | 132 | 464 | Portugal 332, Lisbon 132 |
| 10 | Uwe Seeler | Germany | 1954-1978 | 180 | 267 | 447 | Oberliga Nord 267, Germany 178, Republic of Ireland 2 |
| Reg Date | Australia | 1938-1954 | 446 | 446 | New South Wales 446 | ||
| 11 | Albert de Cleyn | Belgium | 1933-1955 | 377 | 51 | 428 | Belgium 377, Belgium War 51 |
| Dadá Maravilha | Brazil | 1967-1985 | 127 | 299 | 426 | Brazil 127, Carioca 24, Mineiro 109, Pernambucano 84, | |
| Gaúcho 11, Paulista 7, Paraense 16, Baiano 27, Goiano 5, | |||||||
| Paranaense 5, Amazonense 11 | |||||||
| 12 | Gyula Zsengellér | Hungary | 1935-1952 | 415 | 415 | Hungary 386, Italy 6, Colombia 23 | |
| 13 | Imre Schlosser | Hungary | 1906-1927 | 363 | 50 | 413 | Hungary Unoff 1, Hungary 357, Hungary War 49, Austria 6 |
| 14 | Isidro Lángara | Spain | 1930-1948 | 338 | 73 | 411 | Spain 104, Asturias 73, Mexico 124, Argentina 110 |
| 15 | Zico | Brazil | 1971-1994 | 171 | 239 | 410 | Carioca 239, Brazil 135, Italy 22, Japan 14 |
| 16 | Jimmy McGrory | Scotland | 1923-1937 | 407 | 407 | Scotland 407 | |
| 17 | Gerd Müller | Germany | 1964-1981 | 405 | 405 | Germany 365, USA (NASL) 40 | |
| 18 | Luis Suárez | Uruguay | 2005- | 393 | 7 | 400 | Uruguay 20, Netherlands 96, England 69, Spain 179, |
| Brazil 17, Gaúcho 7, USA (MLS) 12 |