NEW - IFFHS RANKING FOR ALL TIME WORLD BEST LEAGUE GOAL SCORERS


Picture : Pelé and his famous bicycle kick ! He is the leader of this ranking.


IFFHS ranking for all-time world best league goal-scorers

Cristiano Ronaldo has reached earlier this month the milestone of 500 national league goals. He became the 6th player in football history to achieve  this. Now his league goal tally is as high as 503 goals.
We publish for the first time the historical world ranking of the top goal-scorers in the national leagues. The top divisions are taken into account, with addition of some relevant regional leagues (Campeonato Carioca for Romário, Roberto Dinamite and Zico, Campeonato Paulista for Pelé, Lisbon Championship for Peyroteo, Oberliga Nord for Seeler, Netherlands Nord for Lenstra).
Pelé holds the record in this category with 604 goals.
Erwin Helmchen is a special case. During his 28-year career, he scored 713 goals in various German leagues. During his performances, the structure of national championship was very complex and multi-stage. The regional tournaments in which Helmchen competed were the opening phases of the German championship. Formally, they belonged to the first tier of the national football. But huge number of teams involved significantly devalues the quality of his leagues. This circumstance makes it impossible to consider these regional leagues as "relevant". Therefore, Helmchen is mentioned in the list, but not included in the ranking.


  ALL-TIME BEST    LEAGUE        GOAL-SCORERS
        
 PlayerNationalityPeriodNLRLTotalLeagues (goals)
        
 Erwin Helmchen Germany1923-195123690713Germany (23), South-East Germany (151), Central Germany (247),
       Gauliga Saxony (219), Bezirk Chemnitz (72), Oberliga Nord (1)
1Pelé Brazil1957-1977138466604Paulista (466), Brazil (101), USA (NASL, 37)
2Abe LenstraNetherlands1937-1960289284573Netherlands Nord (284), Netherlands (289)
3RomárioBrazil1985-2007311233544Carioca (233), Brazil (154), Netherlands (98), Spain (39), 
       USA (USL, 19), Australia (1)
4Josef BicanAustria, CS, BM1931-1955515 515Austria (71), Czechoslovakia & Bohemia-Moravia (444)
5Ferenc PuskásHungary, Spain1943-1966515 515Hungary (359), Spain (156)
6Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal 2002-503 503Portugal (3), England (103), Spain (311), Italy (81), Saudi Arabia (5)
7Lionel Messi Argentina 2004-491 491Spain (474), France (17)
8Roberto DinamiteBrazil1971-1992192284476Carioca (284), Brazil (190), Spain (2)
9Fernando PeyroteoPortugal1937-1949332132464Portugal (332), Lisbon (132)
10Uwe SeelerGermany1954-1978180267447Oberliga Nord (267), Germany (178), Republic of Ireland (2)
11EusébioPortugal 1957-1978422 422Mozambique (77), Portugal (320), USA (NASL, 24), Mexico (1)
12Imre Schlosser Hungary1905-1928417 417Hungary (411), Austria (6)
13Gyula ZsengellérHungary1935-1952416 416Hungary (387), Italy (6), Colombia (23)
14Jimmy McGroryScotland1922-1937409 409Scotland (409)
15Gerd MüllerGermany1964-1981405 405Germany (365), USA (NASL, 40)
16ZicoBrazil1971-1994161239400Carioca (239), Brazil (135), Italy (22), Japan (14)