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Cristiano Ronaldo Might Not Actually Be The Lead Goalscorer Of All Time

Cristiano Ronaldo Might Not Actually Be The Lead Goalscorer Of All Time

Cristiano Ronaldo's 760th career goal was thought to have taken him clear of Josef Bican but that might not be the case.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

Cristiano Ronaldo scored the 760th goal of his career on Wednesday night but the Juventus forward might not have actually broken the record for most goals.

The 35-year-old forward scored the Old Lady's opening goal in their Supercoppa win over Napoli, which boosted him up the table for most trophies won.

His goal took Ronaldo to 760 in his career, for Sporting, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juve and Portugal, and broke the record of 759 career goals set by former Czechoslovakia striker Josef Bican, who finished playing in 1955.

However, just like with Lionel Messi's recent record for most goals scored for a single club, it seems that there is some question to whether 760 is actually the record.

Again, as with Messi, Pele is one of the men who could be standing in the way of Ronaldo claiming the record for himself.

The former Brazil striker, who won the World Cup three times, claims to have scored an incredible 1283 goals, which is even on his Instagram profile as 'Leading Goal Scorer of All Time.'

Pele spent most of his career playing in his home country for Santos and bagged 643 official goals for the club, as well as 64 for New York Cosmos and 77 for the national team.

However Santos, as well as the 80-year-old, claim that the forward's goals in unofficial friendlies and on tours abroad with the club should be counted. If that were the case he'd be miles ahead of everyone.

Fellow Brazilian Romario also believes that he should be on more than 1000 goals, though the 1994 World Cup winner might have even less claim than his countryman.

The former Barcelona forward scored 745 goals in his career, for club and country, including 39 for the La Liga giants, but believes goals in youth games, friendlies and testimonials should count.

He celebrated scoring his '1000th goal' in a game for Vasco da Gama back in 2007, with his career officially ending two years later.

Romario celebrates a goal in the World Cup. Image: PA Images
Romario celebrates a goal in the World Cup. Image: PA Images

It isn't officially recognised by any record books but FIFA carried the article of the player celebrating the landmark on their website, although they did refer to it as a 'personal count.'

Even Bican, whose record Ronaldo thought he'd broken, may actually have more than the 759 goals initially quoted and there's actually two other figures for the former Slavia Prague forward.

According to the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation, who collate lots of football stats, the former record holder bagged 805 career goals, which would be 1468 if he, like Pele, included friendlies.

FIFA's website also claims that 805 is the correct number, saying he scored 1.52 goals for every game he played during his career.

The Czech FA have even come up with a different and claim that their man actually scored 821 official goals in his career, really confusing things.

So Ronaldo either is the record holder, isn't the far off or is utterly miles away!

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Football News, Brazilian football, Serie A, Juventus, Napoli, Pele, Brazil, Cristiano Ronaldo