Football is not just an effort to put a ball into a net. It has, at its pinnacles, an aesthetic dimension – it is not just a game, but an art. However, football is an art which can be, more or less, confined within a set of numbers.
People may argue about putting the game of football under statistical purview or debate whether a certain individual or team is better and what not. Even so, certain players put up such numbers, or say, create or break a world record that even the football purists consider untouchable.
Guinness World Records is the primary international authority on cataloging and verification of a huge number of world records. Here, today, we take a look at 5 such Guinness world records held by footballers.
#1 Just Fontaine
What: Most goals scored in a single World cup.
When: 1958
Where: Sweden
A lot can change over the course of 58 years. But some records – stand the test of time to the point of appearing unbreakable. One such record appears to be held by Frenchman Just Fontaine.
Fontaine scored 13 goals in Sweden that summer, across the six matches that France played. It remains the record for the most goals scored in a single World Cup tournament.
Fontaine netted a hat trick in France’s opening match that summer, then proceeded to score in every game for Les Blues thereafter. And he didn’t simply load up in one or two matches. He scored multiple times in four of the six contests, including a four-goal virtuosity against defending champs West Germany in the third-place game.
To put it in perspective, Miroslav Klose played 24 matches across four World Cups to earn his 16. Ronaldo(15 goals) and Gerd Mueller(14 goals) – required 19 and 13 matches, respectively, to hit their marks. Again, Fontaine needed only six.
That’s a remarkable 2.17 goals per game average, the second-highest of any player to have ever scored 10 or more goals in a World Cup career (Hungary’s Sandor Kocsis hit 2.2/game with 11 goals in five matches in 1954).
Fontaine’s record seems to have stood the test of time and 58 years on, it appears nobody may challenge one of the sport’s most long-standing achievements.
#2 Rogerio Ceni
What: 1) Most goals scored by a goalkeeper.
2) Most number of games played for the same club.
3) Most amount of times played as captain.
Where: Sao Paulo
Rogerio Ceni is a Brazilian international, who played as a goalkeeper for Sao Paolo FC for 23 years and scored 131 GOALS!! Yes. You read it right. Rogerio Ceni has scored 131 goals playing as a goalkeeper. He was a dead-ball specialist and was club’s primary set-piece taker.
Apart from being a good goalkeeper and a deadly set-piece specialist, Rogerio Ceni was also a very loyal player. Most of his vast professional career, which had spanned 25 years, was associated with Sao Paulo FC, with whom he won 20 major titles, including three Brazilian Leagues and two Libertadores Cup.
This loyalty in today’s age of wage-oriented footballers brought him two more Guinness World Record. He is the player who holds the record for most number of games played for the same club (1237 games for Sao Paulo) and most amount of times played as captain.
While most people are usually satisfied with one Guinness World Record, this footballing legend went on to amass three world records shows the level of his commitment towards this beautiful game.
#3 Jone Samuelsen
What: Longest headed goal scored in a competitive football match
Where: Skagerak Arena, Skein, Norway
When: 25 September 2011
Football allows players to use every part of the body except arms, thus giving players quite a bit of physical and creative liberty. One such use of this liberty saw Jone Samuelson of Norway score a header, 58.13m from goal, for ODD Grenland vs Tromso Idrettslag on 25 September 2011, thus making it the longest headed goal scored in a competitive football match.
This goal was scored in the final minutes of a Tippeligaen League game (Norway's top division) when the score was 2-1 to ODD Grenland. A corner was given to Tromsø who put everyone forward, including their goalkeeper, in an attempt to equalise and keep their title hopes alive.
However, a long clearance upfield saw Tromso's defender head the ball in an attempt to get the ball back in ODD Grenland's half. However, his clearance was met by Jone Samuelsen's head, directing the ball into an empty net, with the hapless keeper running back to his goal in vain.
Thus, a good simultaneous use of brain (head) and brawns (neck muscles) helped our Norwegian claim a unique Guinness World Record for himself.
#4 Pele
What: 1)Most career goals (football)
2)Most number of World cup won by a player (football)
Where: Brazil and the USA
Edson Arantes do Nascimento, or simply Pele, needs no introduction. He is ‘O Rei do Futebol’ (The king of Football). Considered by many to be simply the greatest player ever to grace the game, he is celebrated as God in Brazil where Football is a religion.
Being an accomplished player, he set and broke numerous records throughout his career, but in that plethora of records, one record specifically stands out. That record is MOST CAREER GOALS (FOOTBALL).
Yes, it is Pele who has scored most number of goals in football. To be precise, Pele scored 1,279 goals from 7 Sep 1956 to 1 Oct 1977 in 1,363 games, which included unofficial friendlies and tour games.
His best year was 1959 with 126 goals to his name, and the Milésimo (1000th) came from a penalty for his club Santos at the Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, on 19 Nov 1969 when playing his 909th first-class match.
Of the 1279 goals scored by him, 619 have come while playing for Santos and 31 while playing for New York Cosmos. He also plundered 77 goals for Brazil in 91 appearances. To put it in perspective, current top scorers in the world, Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, have yet to reach 600 career goals. It is these records of such magnitude that act as certification for Pele’s greatness.
His greatness also propelled the Brazilian team to new a greatness. They went on to win five different editions of World cup and thus becoming the most successful team in the tournament’s rich history. Pele was part of three Brazilian world cup winning teams, thus making him a Guinness World record holder for PLAYER WITH MOST WORLD CUP WINS (FOOTBALL).
#5 Lionel Messi
What: Most goals in a calendar year (Football)
Where: FC Barcelona
When: 2012
Lionel Messi needs no introduction.He is a winner of five FIFA Ballon d'Ors, a World Cup golden ball and numerous other individual awards. Considered by many to be arguably the greatest player in the history of the game, he toys with records on a daily basis.
Of all the records smashed or broken by the diminutive Argentine, one stands out. It is Guinness World Record MOST GOALS IN A CALENDAR YEAR (FOOTBALL).
Messi clinched the record after hitting the target twice in Barca's 2-1 win over Real Betis on December 9, 2012. Barcelona's no.10 broke Gerd Mueller's record of 85 goals which stood for 40 long years.
Messi was breathing goals in 2012. He found the back of net 91 times that very year and destroyed opponents after opponents whether it was for FC Barcelona or while donning the white and light blue of Argentina. He plundered 79 goals for his club side and went on to score 12 times for Argentina too.
Nicknamed "The Flea" for his small frame, Messi is also Barcelona’s all-time leading scorer. But to have a Guinness World Record in one’s name is a special feeling and he sure would be a happy soul now, planning and preparing for future records.
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