IFFHS INFO - MESSI : ONE GOAL TO MATCH PELE !
Picture : Lionel Messi and Pelé, two generations, two World Stars !
Messi in just one step from Pele’s All-time World One-Club Scoring record!
It was about 45 years whilst Pele was owner of two world goal-scoring records: on number of top level goals overall (767) and on number of top level goals for one club (Santos, 647).
These records seemed eternal or almost so – until appearance of two football supermen of modern era. And now they both simultaneously attack Pele’s records; each one from his side.
As we already wrote few days ago, Cristiano Ronaldo is close to beat the total scoring record (758 goals at the moment). In the meantime, Lionel Messi got even closer to one-club record. With 2 goals made in La Liga January 6 game vs Athletic Bilbao (3:2 for Barcelona), his first in 2021, Messi raised his tally for Barcelona to 646. So, his next goal will be historical one!
Here we have to mention that many media worldwide already announced shortly ago both Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi as the new record holders in corresponding categories. But in each of cases it was incorrect statement – as they based on wrong Pele’s numbers, a bit smaller than accurate ones.
In reality, both Pele’s records are still alive – but do undoubtedly live their last weeks or even days!
Below in the table: all-time players with 500+ goals for one club.
IFFHS Ranking World’s All-Time Best One-Club Goal Scorers
| Player | Nationality | Club | Period | League | Cups | ICC | Total | Total | Total | Sum | ||||
| NL | RL | NC | OC | CT | ICT | League | Cups | ICC | ||||||
| 1 | Pelé | Brazil | Santos | 1957-74 | 101 | 470 | 49 | 17 | 10 | 571 | 49 | 27 | 647 | |
| 2 | Lionel Messi | Argentina | Barcelona | 2004- | 453 | 53 | 14 | 121 | 5 | 453 | 67 | 126 | 646 | |
| 3 | Fernando Peyroteo | Portugal | Sporting Lisbon | 1937-49 | 332 | 133 | 73 | 2 | 3 | 465 | 75 | 3 | 543 | |
| 4 | Gerd Müller | Germany | Bayern | 1965-79 | 365 | 78 | 12 | 68 | 1 | 365 | 90 | 69 | 524 | |
| 5 | Jimmy McGrory | Scotland | Celtic Glasgow | 1922-37 | 395 | 74 | 53 | 395 | 127 | 522 | ||||
| 6 | Josef Bican | Czechoslovakia | Slavia Prague | 1937-55 | 417 | 49 | 42 | 417 | 91 | 12 | 520 | |||
| 7 | Jimmy Jones | Northern Ireland | Glenavon | 1951-62 | 275 | 35 | 206 | 1 | 275 | 241 | 1 | 517 | ||
| 8 | Joe Bambrick | Northern Ireland | Linfield | 1927-43 | 286 | 31 | 194 | 286 | 225 | 511 | ||||
| 9 | Uwe Seeler | Germany | Hamburg | 1954-72 | 177 | 267 | 41 | 21 | 444 | 41 | 21 | 506 |
NL – National League |
RL – Regional League (taken in account only having the status equal to national league) |
NC – (main) national Cup |
OC – other (top-level) national Cups |
ICC - International Club Competitions |
CT – Continental tournaments |
ICT – InterContinental (world) tournaments |