With his most recent goal coming on Thursday for Portugal in the Nations League against Croatia, at the age of 39, Cristiano Ronaldo has now scored 900 goals in his professional career. His first goal came when he was just 17 years old in October 2002. He is simply among the best goal scorers in the history of the game.
After starting out as a winger, Ronaldo did not score in his first four games as a professional. However, on October 7, 2002, in his fifth professional match, he scored twice for Sporting against Moreirense in the Primeira Liga, the top division of Portugal. All five of his Sporting goals came during his 2002–03 season, his first as a professional player.
Ronaldo went 27 games without scoring (16 for Sporting, 9 for United, and 2 for Portugal) between his last goal for Sporting in December 2002 and his first goal for Manchester United in November 2003. This was by far the greatest scoring drought of his career (the next longest is 15 matches).
In his first term with Manchester United, which concluded in 2009, Ronaldo scored 118 goals. In his second stint, which ran from September 2021 to November 2022, he scored 27 more goals.
Ronaldo only has a goals-per-game average of more than 1.00 for Real Madrid (450 goals in 438 games). With an average of 0.92 goals per game, his current squad, Al Nassr, has the second-best record.
He has surpassed Raul's record of 323 goals in October 2015 to become Real Madrid's all-time best scorer. For Portugal, he has surpassed Pauleta's record of 47 goals in March 2014.
Ronaldo scored 69 goals in 2011–12—his highest total for a season—60 times for Real Madrid and nine times for Portugal. He turned 27 in February of that year.
Although Ronaldo scored 69 goals in 69 games, it may surprise you to learn that he was scoreless in 26 of those contests. Seven hat-tricks, including five in 26 games during an amazing run from late August to mid-December, added to his staggering total.
The 69 goals Ronaldo scored in 2011–12 were two more than he scored in his first four seasons combined at Manchester United for both club and country (67).
After joining Juventus in Italy for the 2018–19 season, Ronaldo did not score 50 goals in a season since 2009–10, when he played in his debut Real Madrid campaign.
Ronaldo, who turns 40 in February, has continued to score goals prolifically long after most football players would normally retire.
The goals of Ronaldo are broken down by body part here.
In May 2008, he scored a goal for Manchester United against West Ham United in the Premier League with his thigh, and in October 2014, Real Madrid scored a goal with his elbow against Athletic Bilbao in La Liga.
Ronaldo would still have scored 326 goals if his goals with his stronger right foot were taken out of the equation. This is just 19 goals less than Diego Maradona's career total of 345 goals and four more than Robin van Persie's.
Here's where Ronaldo has scored his nine hundred and ninety goals on the field.
With 164 penalties awarded out of 194 attempts, 18.2% of his goals have come from the penalty spot. In the meantime, 14.6% of the responses have been unconventional.
Of those 131 long-range goals, 63 have come from free kicks (Ronaldo has scored 64 career free kicks; however, one was an indirect one from inside the area, which Opta counts as a free-kick goal because of the incredibly short pass he received before striking the ball).
His first goal for Manchester United came from one of those free kicks, which he scored against Portsmouth in November 2003. The greatest of them, arguably, also occurred against Portsmouth; in 2008, he scored a breathtaking goal that immobilized goalie David James.
There's no denying that Ronaldo would be thrilled to reach 1,000 goals. It would not only be a huge accomplishment, but it would also finally resolve the unsolvable mystery of who has scored the most goals in football history.
Ronaldo scored fifty goals for Al Nassr out of his 57 goals for club and country last season. If he stays healthy and continues to play in Saudi Arabia, he has a chance to surpass 1,000 goals by the end of the 2025–26 season, which will coincide with his 41st birthday.
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