It was on this very website, back in September 2024, that we set up the fascinating race to 1,000 goals between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Nobody has ever reached the four-figure milestone in professional football before, and there are no other viable candidates to do so either – the likes of Robert Lewandowski and Luis Suarez would have to play until close to their 50th birthdays in order to get close.
No, this is a straight dogfight between Ronaldo and Messi in the bid to bring up that all-important 1,000th goal, with CR7’s quest derailed by the announcement that he will leave Saudi club Al-Nassr in June 2025.
This chapter is over.
The story? Still being written.
Grateful to all. pic.twitter.com/Vuvl5siEB3— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) May 26, 2025
It’s a considerable spanner in the works. Yes, Ronaldo will have no shortage of suitors for his signature, but will he end up playing in a competition as agreeable as the Saudi Pro League when it comes to abundant goalscoring chances? So, does that hand Messi the edge in the race to 1,000 goals?
Ronaldo vs Messi
When we first checked in on the state of play back in September 2024, Ronaldo held a handsome lead over his rival/frenemy. The Portuguese ace had slammed in 901 goals at the time of the original article, with Messi lagging behind on 838 goals – they are, officially, the most prolific goalscorers in the history of professional football.
Fast forward to June 2025 and the picture has changed somewhat. Ronaldo has now pressed onto 936 goals, having notched 35 league and cup goals in his final season with Al-Nassr – winning the Saudi Pro League golden boot trophy.
As for Messi, he’s only been able to progress onto 861 goals – however, the Major League Soccer Season will run throughout the summer months, when Ronaldo is putting his feet up, so the Argentine has an opportunity to close the gap yet further… albeit, the Portuguese forward is still miles ahead.
While Messi has one trophy to his name that Ronaldo will never likely have – the World Cup, the Portuguese 40-year-old would, in his own mind, gain the ultimate upper hand by being the first to reach 1,000 career goals.
The 1,000 Club
Although he’ll try and tell you otherwise, the milestone definitely occupies a place in Ronaldo’s mind. In an interview back in August 2024, he was bullish about his chances. “My challenge is 1,000 goals… if I don’t have injuries, I want that [tally].”
And yet, the following April, Ronaldo had come over all uncharacteristically coy. “Guys, let’s enjoy the moment, the present,” he said after notching a brace in a Saudi Pro League game. “I’m not following 1,000. If it’s yes, perfect. If it’s not, it’s not.”
The possibility of reaching 1,000 goals will almost certainly be determined by Ronaldo’s choice of new club. Rumours linking him with switches to boyhood club Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United or Brazilian side Botafogo may prove unfounded; the 40-year-old would find it difficult to score the weight of goals necessary to get to four figures in those more challenging leagues.
Even then, he might have his work cut out. Former Liverpool and Germany midfielder Dietmar Hamann claims that Ronaldo simply won’t play for long enough to have a chance of bringing up the 1,000 mark. “I don’t think he can go on for that long,” Hamann said. However, Ronaldo still has plenty of supporters in his native Portugal, where he’s expected to play for the national team up until World Cup 2026… if not longer.
“He could be a starter [at the World Cup]. Decisive… we have to wait and see. But Cristiano is an example for the whole world in terms of availability, professionalism, talent,” said his countryman and fellow Portuguese legend, Luis Figo. “And he will always score goals, I think even at 40, even at 42, he will always score goals.”
As for Messi, mentions of 1,000 career goals are thinner on the ground. Given the current gulf between his and Ronaldo’s tally, the Argentine would probably have to play two or three seasons longer than his Portuguese rival.
The junior man by three years, Messi somewhat has time on his side, but he will need to maintain a ratio of 30 goals per season past his 40th birthday in order to have a chance of reaching the milestone. Back in March 2023, mind you, he achieved a comparable milestone: Messi served up his 1,000th goal involvement – that’s goals plus assists – when playing for PSG in Ligue 1.
Pelé’s Sizable Claim
These records live or die by the accuracy and the veracity of the statistics used to measure them. Because the Guinness Book of Records, that famous documenter of magic milestones, claims that there’s a sole member of the 1,000 goals club already.
They have Pelé, the iconic Brazilian forward, down for 1,279 goals – although, it’s thought, that tally includes ‘unofficial’ goals scored in friendlies and exhibition games. Playing in the 1950s, data wasn’t always recorded accurately either – casting further doubt on Pele’s goal-den haul.
Even his fellow professionals doubt the scale of the Brazilian’s career tally. When interviewed alongside Pele and quizzed on his alleged 1,279 goal total, Diego Maradona pulled a face before replying: “Who did you score them against… your nephews in the backyard?”
For official purposes, the data collected by independent stats agency RSSSF have been used to calculated the totals as Ronaldo and Messi close in on the 1,000 mark. As far as the RSSSF is concerned, Pelé scored 762 ‘official’ goals in competitive games, with his Brazilian compatriot Romario next on 756 and the Hungarian great Ferenc Puskas on 725.
In 2007, Romario reached the 1,000 career goal mark for Vasco de Gama in a friendly, but – like Pelé – that’s including scarcely documented youth games, friendlies and exhibitions.
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