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Football, one of the most popular sports in the world, has had some true heroes who have transcended the game itself and cemented their legacy in the minds of football fans forever.
The sport needs a lot of hard work and dedication to achieve landmarks on a consistent basis. Some of the major measuring factors of success in a footballers career are goals, assists, clean sheets, and silverware.
The list features all-time football legends with the highest number of goals. Many are well-known icons while some inclusions will surprise you.
The ranking below takes into consideration goals which were scored in official matches played with a player's club and national teams at all age levels and clubs in all divisions.
So, without much ado, let’s take a look at the top ten footballers with most goals in club and international football.
#10 Uwe Seeler - 575 Career Goals
Uwe Seeler is regarded as one of the greatest players in German football history. As a striker, he played for Hamburger SV and also made 72 appearances for the West German National Team. The footballer has scored 575 goals for his club and country.
Seeler participated in the four FIFA World Cups in 1958, 1962, 1966, and 1970. While guided his team to the finals in 1966, where they controversially lost to host England by 4-2 in extra time.
He was captain of both his club team and the national team for many years. His best years were when he and his club won the German championship in 1960 and DFB Pokal in 1963. He was named German Footballer of the Year in 1960, 1964 and 1970.
#9 Túlio Maravilha - 575 Career Goals
Maravilha played for many Brazilian club teams, such as Goiás, Botafogo, Corinthians, Vitória, Fluminense, Cruzeiro and Vila Nova and several lower-division teams in Brazil. He scored 575+ Official goals in his career. His best years were while he was at Botafogo, where he was three times the Brazilian top scorer in the year 1989, 1994, 1995 and won the 1995 Campeonato Brasileiro.
While he was mostly known for his controversial goal 'Tuleta', which he scored against Universidad Católica in a Copa Libertadores match. Having already eliminated the goalkeeper from the play, he stopped short of the goal line with the ball, turned around and flicked the ball up, tapping it in with a heel kick. Interestingly, he played 15 games with Brazilian national team and the team never lost a match with Tulio on the pitch.
#8 Ferenc Deak - 576 Career Goals
Ferenc Deak's was an outstanding goalscorer in his own right. The Hungarian footballer represented teams such as Szentlőrinci AC, Ferencváros, and Budapesti Dózsa.
Deak averaged more than three goals a game for first club Szentlorinci AC scoring 220 goals in just 72 appearances before joining Ferencvaros, where he struck 200 goals in 140 outings.
He also racked up 29 goals for his country. His best year was 1944 when he was named Hungarian football federation player of the year.
#7 Lionel Messi - 644 Career Goals
.Any football list is incomplete without Messi, who made his competitive debut for Barcelona aged 17 in October 2004 and established himself as an integral player for the club within the next three years. At 22 years old, Messi won the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year award by record voting margins.
Messi scored his first ever goal for FC Barcelona in 2004. After that he never looked back and went on to score 644 goals till date, Messi also holds the records for most official goals scored in La Liga which are 383, as well as those for most 149 assists in La Liga. The Argentine international is 31 and on course to top this list in a few more years.
#6 Cristiano Ronaldo - 676 Career Goals
After starting out as a fleet-footed winger, Cristiano Ronaldo has transformed himself into a goalscoring machine. The charismatic footballer has scored over 676 senior career goals for club and country, which includes 395 official goals scored in European leagues, 120 in the UEFA Champions League, nine in the UEFA European Championship, as well as 34 in the UEFA Champions League, six in the UEFA European Championship and 103 national Goals (18 Youth & 85 Senior level).
He scored his first international goal at Euro 2004. His best years were 2016 and 2017. He led Portugal to their first-ever triumph and received the Silver Boot as the second-highest goalscorer of the tournament in Euro 2016, before becoming the highest European international goalscorer of all-time in 2017. While he is regarded as the world's most famous athlete by ESPN in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Remarkably, at 33, he is on the hottest streak of his career and is destined to add many more goals by the end of his career.
#5 Gerhard Müller - 735 Career Goals
Gerd Muller was renowned for his predatory instincts in the penalty area. The legendary footballer has scored 735 senior career goals for club and country, which includes 398 official goals scored for Bayern Munich, 51 for the 1861 Nordlingen, 38 for the Lord Lauderdale Strikers, as well as 69 national Goals (1 Youth & 68 Senior level).
Müller's international career started in 1966 and ended on 7 July 1974 with victory at the 1974 World Cup at his home stadium in Munich. He scored the winning goal for the 2–1 victory over Netherlands in the final. While his best years started since he began his career in 1965. There was no instance in his whole career when he hasn't guided his team to finals of a tournament, except 1970 World Cup when West Germany finished third.
#4 Ferenc Puskás - 746 Career Goals
Ferenc Puskas was known as 'The Galloping Major', a key man in two of the greatest sides in football history: Hungary's 'Magnificent Magyars' and Real Madrid's 1960 European Cup winners. The Hungarian legend has scored over 746 senior career goals for club and country, which includes 84 goals in 85 international matches for Hungary, and 358 goals for Budapest Honved in the Hungarian leagues and 156 goals for Real Madrid in Spanish leagues.
HIs best years were 1950 to 1954. He was named Hungarian player of the year in 1950, then European and world soccer player of the year in 1953. While he played the 1954 World Cup final against West Germany with a hairline fracture. Despite this, he scored his fourth goal of the tournament to put Hungary ahead after six minutes but the West Germans pulled back two goals before halftime, with six minutes left the West Germans scored the winner. Two minutes from the end of the match, Puskás appeared to score an equalizer but the goal was disallowed due to an offside call. He was truly a legend, who gave his team an outside chance to win World Cup despite fracture. In 2014, Puskas became the first player to be inducted into Goal Hall of Fame.
#3 Pelé - 767 Career Goals
Edson Arantes do Nascimento (Pelé) is one of the most famous and possibly the best-paid athlete in the world during his time. He was part of the Brazilian national teams that won three World Cup championships in 1958, 1962, and 1970. In 2000, He became one of the two footballers who were given of the FIFA Player of the Century award and was elected as Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee.
The Brazilian legend has scored over 767 senior career goals for club and country, which includes 77 national goals for Brazil, 619 goals for the Santos and 31 goals for New York Cosmos.
Pelé won his first major title with Santos in 1958 as the team won the Campeonato Paulista; Pelé finishes the tournament with record 58 goals, a record that stands till date. As per IFFHS, Pelé is the most successful league goal-scorer in the world, scoring 1281 goals in 1363 games, which included unofficial friendlies and tour games and on 19 November 1969, Pelé scored his 1000th overall goal in all competitions, in what was a highly anticipated moment in Brazil.
#2 Romário - 772 Career Goals
Romario, the man described by former Barcelona coach Johann Cruyff as "a genius" in the penalty area. The clinical finisher has scored over 772 senior career goals for club and country, which comprises of 71 goals in 85 international matches (16 Youth/Olympics and 55 National) and 701 league goals. During his carrer, he represented in several football clubs all around the globe.
The best year of his career was 1994, when he starred for Brazil in FIFA World Cup success, receiving the FIFA Golden Ball as player of the tournament. He came fifth in the FIFA Player of the Century internet poll in 1999, was elected to the FIFA World Cup Dream Team in 2002.
#1 Josef Bican - 805 Career Goals
Josef Bican was most prolific goalscorer in the football history and is sometimes regarded as a forgotten legend. He had the ability to play with both feet; he also had considerable pace and was able to run 100 metres in 10.8 seconds, which was as fast as many sprinters of the time. The International Federation of Football History & Statistics awarded Bican the "Golden Ball" as the greatest goalscorer of the last century. Josef is one of those players in football history, who maintained a strike rate of more than one goal per match throughout their carrier. While In 1955 the profile goalscorer ended his career with a massive strike rate of 1.52 and three times in his career, Bican scored seven goals in a game
As per RSSSF estimates Bican scored about 1468 goals in all competitive and friendly matches, that make him the most prolific scorer in football history. While Some team-mates even claimed he'd actually scored more than 5000 - something that Bican never denied, simply saying "Who'd have believed me if I said I'd scored five times as many goals as Pele?..."
