Players Who Achieved 500 Career Goals in Football
The Hungarian football legend Imre Schlosser was the first player to achieve the milestone of 500 career goals.
A remarkable forward for Ferencváros and MTK Hungária during the early 1900s, Schlosser clinched 13 Hungarian championships and scored more than 400 league goals.
Additionally, he was the pioneering player to score 50 international goals and concluded his career with over 500 goals in total, albeit the precise figure remains contested.
Since Schlosser’s time, numerous players have surpassed the 500 career goals milestone. Here’s a look at some notable athletes who have achieved that landmark…
16. Zico
A legend at Flamengo and one of Brazil’s most outstanding players, Zico was often referred to as “White Pelé” after rising to prominence in the early 1970s.
Zico donned the Brazilian jersey between 1976 and 1986, scoring 48 goals in 71 matches. Throughout his club career, he primarily played for Flamengo during two separate spells, had a stint at Udinese, and concluded his career with Kashima Antlers in Japan. Overall, he netted just over 500 goals across both club and international play, with 101 of those from direct free-kicks.
15. Hugo Sánchez
Known for his remarkable acrobatic finishes, Hugo Sánchez was the top scorer in La Liga five times throughout the late 1980s—once with Atlético Madrid and four times with Real Madrid.
In total, Sánchez found the net 208 times for Los Blancos and accumulated close to 500 goals throughout his club career, in addition to scoring 29 goals in 58 appearances for the Mexican national team.
14. Roberto Dinamite
A true icon of Vasco da Gama, Roberto Dinamite was forever honored as the Rio de Janeiro club unveiled a bronze statue in his likeness in 2022.
In addition to a brief period at Barcelona, Dinamite enjoyed two lengthy stints at Vasco, where he scored the majority of his nearly 500 career goals. He also tallied 20 goals from 38 caps for the Brazilian national team.
13. Alfredo Di Stéfano
While he is most famously associated with his successful tenure at Real Madrid from 1953 to 1964, Alfredo Di Stéfano was also a prolific scorer with River Plate and Millonarios earlier in his career.
Over the course of his career, Di Stéfano, who played for both Huracán and Espanyol while representing both Argentina and Spain, amassed over 500 goals in total, combining club and international play.
12. Uwe Seeler
A prolific goal-scorer for Hamburg and West Germany during the 1950s and 1960s, Uwe Seeler recorded 490 goals for HSV between the years 1954 and 1972.
A member of the West Germany team that reached the final of the 1966 World Cup, Seeler scored 43 goals in 72 matches for his national side.
11. Fernando Peyroteo
Born in Portuguese Angola, Fernando Peyroteo relocated to Lisbon at 19 and joined the ranks of Sporting Clube de Portugal.
Peyroteo dedicated his entire career to Sporting and set numerous goalscoring records, tallying over 550 goals for both the club and the Portuguese national team from 1937 to 1949.
10. Luis Suárez
Luis Suárez kicked off his career in 2005, and by November 2024, the former Ajax, Barcelona, and Liverpool striker had banked over 580 career goals.
A top scorer for the Uruguayan national team, Suárez holds the record with 69 goals and has enjoyed spells at Nacional (twice), Groningen, Grêmio, Atlético Madrid, and Inter Miami.
9. Abe Lenstra
A titan of Dutch football in the 1940s and 1950s, Abe Lenstra brought fame to his hometown club Heerenveen with over 400 goals during his lengthy tenure there.
With 33 goals in 47 appearances for the Netherlands, he is regarded as one of the all-time greats in Dutch football. His career, spanning more than 20 years, saw him net over 600 goals in total.
8. Gerd Müller
One of the most prolific goalscorers in history, Gerd Müller scored a staggering 565 goals during his tenure at Bayern Munich.
His international tally includes 68 goals in just 62 matches for West Germany, making him the nation’s all-time top scorer until Miroslav Klose surpassed him in 2014. Despite this, his goal ratio remains unmatched, with over 630 career goals.
7. Robert Lewandowski
In November 2024, Robert Lewandowski became the third player in history to reach the 100 goals club in the Champions League, joining Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi after scoring twice for Barcelona against Brest.
Lewandowski has scored 103 goals for Borussia Dortmund, 344 for Bayern Munich, and over 80 for Poland. As of November 2024, he is rapidly approaching 700 total career goals, tallying over 670 strikes.
6. Josef Bican
An iconic forward who played for both Austria and Czechoslovakia, Josef Bican was one of the world’s premier footballers throughout his long career, spanning the 1930s to the early 1950s.
Designated by the International Federation of Football Historians and Statisticians (IFFHS) as the greatest goalscorer of the 20th century in club football, Bican netted 722 career goals.
5. Ferenc Puskás
Puskás was one of the few players to score a hat trick in a major European final and the sole player to achieve this twice, solidifying his status as one of the greatest football legends of the 1950s and 1960s.
He amassed over 700 career goals, including 84 for Hungary and 242 for Real Madrid, where he triumphed in three European Cups.
4. Romário
Romário, who played into his early 40s, claims to have netted over 1,000 career goals.
Although many of these were in friendlies and youth matches, the official count is believed to be just above 750, which is nonetheless an extraordinary achievement.
3. Pelé
Pelé is officially recognized by Guinness World Records for scoring 1,279 goals throughout his illustrious career, although the verified count is slightly lower.
Excluding friendlies and exhibition matches, the legendary three-time World Cup champion found the net roughly 750 times, including 77 goals in 92 appearances for Brazil.
2. Lionel Messi
As Barcelona’s all-time leading scorer with 672 goals, Lionel Messi has also scored more than 100 for Argentina.
The World Cup champion is one of only three players to exceed 100 goals in the Champions League and reached 850 career goals by November 2024.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo leads the scoring charts in the Champions League and international football, with over 100 goals in both categories.
He is also Real Madrid’s all-time leading scorer with 450 goals and has accumulated over 900 goals in total, seemingly on course to surpass 1,000 career goals for clubs and country. Remarkable.
