Is Cristiano Ronaldo the top scorer in football history? – Liberation

The subject will be debated at the Sports bar and, above all, at the Desportivo bar. By scoring the 805th, 806th and 807th pawns of his career on Saturday in Manchester United’s victory against Tottenham (3-2), has Cristiano Ronaldo become the top scorer in football history? Officially yes. The statistics of the International Football Federation (Fifa) place him two units ahead of Czechoslovak Josef Bican, who scored the most goals (805 between 1931 and 1955) in the history of his sport, until CR7 place under the lights. Unofficially, this honorary title of the Portuguese will always be disputed by the apothecaries of football, particularly the Portuguese speakers.

Not that Ronaldo’s talent is doubted in his own country but because in Brazil, the best goleador of all time is Pelé, period. If Fifa grants him 767 in official matches, he self-attributes almost twice as many: 1,283. Inflation of the one-upmanship also on the side of another Brazilian, Romario, who claims 1,000. But he digs deep in his memory since he goes back to his years as a pupil, and counts, like Pelé, his achievements in friendly matches, not taken into account by Fifa.

“Comparing them is like mixing apples and pears”

If the number of Ronalddesque goals seems indisputable, from the first in the Sporting de Lisboa jersey during the 2002-2003 season to the 807th on Saturday, as football accountants are omnipresent, the stats of those who can challenge him for the title are questionable. For the Czech Federation, Bican would have registered 821 pawns. The Team reports the words of Jaroslav Kolar, president of the Historical and Statistical Committee of the latter Federation: “As much for Ronaldo, the calculations are quite simple, as much I wonder if for Bican and Pelé it is possible to determine the total exactly. Comparing them is like mixing apples and pears.»

The Team also reminds that crazy statistics site RSSSF. com have their own list of 22 players with more than 1,000 goals, all types of matches combined. At the top of the ranking sits the Hungarian Lajos Tichy (1,912 goals including… 201 for the 1959-1960 season alone), a member of the first football Dream Team: his national team in the 1950s. And the French? Little players. The best tricolor scorer in history is Thierry Henry with 437 goals, including 51 in blue. While waiting for the debate on the most prolific scorer to be settled, which is unlikely and that’s good, here are Ronaldo’s three goals against Tottenham, including the first, sumptuous (one minute away).

As a bonus, a compilation of the best of the artist’s 807 goals.