Football is also known as soccer, and to obtain a goal, a player should dribble, pass and score by using his foot or head, using the hand is prohibited in this kind of sport. Only the goalkeeper is allowed to use his hand and that is for blocking purposes.
Players in the field are only allowed to use their hands when they are about to inbound the ball. Most of us probably find soccer or football boring, but I am telling you that it is not.
Controlling the ball by using the head and feet is hard to do, it is far different when using a hand to pass or dribble.
Also, unlike other sports that you can make lots of goals, a football game may end having the both teams scoreless that is why even a single goal is very beneficial in every game.
But to obtain goals, a team should have strikers who are capable of passing through their opponents and skilled in making goals in any direction.
Listed below are the most prolific strikers of all time, be amazed on how many scores they can do during the peak of their careers.
Romario
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Romário de Souza Faria | ||
| Date of birth | 29 January 1966 (age 49) | ||
| Place of birth | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | ||
| Height | 1.67 m (5 ft 5 1⁄2 in) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1979–1980 | Olaria | ||
| 1981–1985 | Vasco da Gama | ||
| Senior career | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1985–1988 | Vasco da Gama | 47 | 17 |
| 1988–1993 | PSV Eindhoven | 107 | 96 |
| 1993–1995 | Barcelona | 46 | 34 |
| 1995–1996 | Flamengo | 19 | 8 |
| 1996–1997 | Valencia | 11 | 5 |
| 1997 | → Flamengo (loan) | 4 | 3 |
| 1998–1999 | Flamengo | 39 | 26 |
| 2000–2002 | Vasco da Gama | 46 | 41 |
| 2002–2004 | Fluminense | 60 | 34 |
| 2003 | → Al Sadd (loan) | 3 | 0 |
| 2005–2006 | Vasco da Gama | 31 | 22 |
| 2006 | Miami FC | 25 | 19 |
| 2006 | Adelaide United | 4 | 1 |
| 2007 | Vasco da Gama | 6 | 3 |
| 2009 | America (RJ) | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 448 | 309 | |
| National team | Apps | (Gls) | |
| 1987–2005 | Brazil | 70 | 55 |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2007–2008 | Vasco da Gama |
This Brazilian footballer after his retirement becomes not only as a manager but also a politician as well. Romario de Souza Faria, known as a clinical striker and a deadly finisher when goes one-on-one against a goalkeeper.
He is a prolific scorer that’s why he is included on the list of few strikers who managed to surpass the mark of 1,000 goals and he is also the second most productive scorer in football history.
He made his 1,000th goal via a penalty kick against Sport Recife on May 20, 2007, he was playing for Vasco da Gama that time.
On his official retirement announcement he said these words, “Officially I’m not playing any more. I’ve stopped,” he said. “My time is up. Everything has been a lot of fun.”
Arthur Friedenreich
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | July 18, 1892 | ||
| Place of birth | São Paulo , Brazil | ||
| Date of death | September 6, 1969 (aged 77) | ||
| Place of death | São Paulo , Brazil | ||
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1909 | Germânia | ||
| 1910 | Ypiranga | ||
| 1911 | SC Germania | ||
| 1912 | Mackenzie College | ||
| 1913–1915 | Ypiranga | ||
| 1916 | Paulistano | ||
| 1917 | Ypiranga | ||
| 1918–1929 | Paulistano | ||
| 1930–1933 | São Paulo | ||
| 1933 | Atlético Mineiro | ||
| 1933–1935 | São Paulo | ||
| 1935 | Flamengo | ||
| Total | unknown | 1329 | |
| National team | |||
| 1914-1925 | Brazil | 23 | 10 |
‘The Tiger’, was a Brazillian footballer who started his career because of his father’s influence. His father played for SC Germania, a team composed of German immigrants and he also joined the same team in 1909.
Friedenreich’s first debut as a national player was on 1914 but in 1930, he was not chosen to play in the World Cup by Brazil due to a serious misunderstanding between two football leagues, namely States of Rio de janeiro and Sao Paulo.
Fernando Peyroteo
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Fernando Baptista de Seixas Peyroteo de Vasconcelos | ||
| Date of birth | 10 March 1918 | ||
| Place of birth | Humpata, Angola | ||
| Date of death | 28 November 1978 (aged 60) | ||
| Place of death | Lisbon, Portugal | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| AC Moçâmedes | |||
| 1934–1936 | Liceu Diogo Cão | ||
| 1936–1937 | Sporting Luanda | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1937–1949 | Sporting CP | 197 | 329 |
| Total | 197 | 329 | |
| National team | |||
| 1938–1949 | Portugal | 20 | 14 |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1961 | Portugal |
His full name is Fernando Baptista de Seixas Peyroteo de Vasconcelos (such a long name, huh) and he is a Portuguese footballer, a striker who scored thirty four (34) goals in the 14 games he played on his first year in Sporting Club de Portugal.
Peyroteo is considered as the best player in the history of football with a high goals-per-game ratio.
He scored nine (9) goals against Leca F.C.
and scored eight (8) goals against Boavista FC. Unfortunately, one of his legs gets amputated after it brought complications after his surgery.
Gerd Muller
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Gerhard Müller | ||
| Date of birth | 3 November 1945 (age 70) | ||
| Place of birth | Nördlingen , Allied-occupied Germany | ||
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1960–1963 | 1861 Nördlingen | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1963–1964 | 1861 Nördlingen | 31 | 51 |
| 1964–1979 | Bayern Munich | 453 | 398 |
| 1979–1981 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 71 | 38 |
| Total | 555 | 487 | |
| National team | |||
| 1966 | West Germany U23 | 1 | 1 |
| 1966–1974 | West Germany | 62 | 68 |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1992– | Bayern Munich II (Assistant manager) |
Currently, Gerhard “Gerd” Muller is the eleventh all time international game scorers even though the number of matches he had was very few compared to the others included in the list.
He has several nicknames such as ‘Bomber der Nation’, ‘Der Bomber’ and another one give to him by his first coach in Bayern Munich, his coach gave him the nickname ‘kleines dickes Muller’ which means short fat Muller.
Gerd holds the record for the highest all-time goal-scoring record in the 1970 World Cup tournament, he managed to score 14 goals.
The record was never beaten for thirty two (32) years until Ronaldo, a Brazilian player made a new record in the 2006 World Cup.
Marco Van Basten
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Marcel van Basten | ||
| Date of birth | 31 October 1964 (age 51) | ||
| Place of birth | Utrecht , Netherlands | ||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current team | Netherlands (assistant manager) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1970–1971 | EDO | ||
| 1971–1980 | UVV | ||
| 1980–1981 | USV Elinkwijk | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1981–1987 | Ajax | 133 | 128 |
| 1987–1995 | Milan | 147 | 90 |
| Total | 280 | 218 | |
| National team | |||
| 1981 | Netherlands U21 | 15 | 13 |
| 1983–1992 | Netherlands | 58 | 24 |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2003–2004 | Jong Ajax | ||
| 2004–2008 | Netherlands | ||
| 2008–2009 | Ajax | ||
| 2012–2014 | Heerenveen | ||
| 2014 | AZ | ||
| 2014–2015 | AZ (assistant manager) | ||
| 2015– | Netherlands (assistant manager) |
If Marco Van Basten was not forced to retire because of his injury, he might be one of the top scorers in football history. But still he is considered as one of the best strikers of all time.
As a striker, Marco managed to score 277 goals in his whole career, but due to the circumstances, the last game he played with team Milan was in 1993, he was only 28 years old when he got a serious ankle injury.
The ankle injury he had recurred when his team faced A. C. Ancona, then he undergo another surgery. Marco Van Basten’s last game was when they faced Marseille, unfortunately they lost.
After retiring he became as an assistant to his former teammate John van’t Schip, but before he entered any team management, he stated that he would never try managing a team, but he changed his mind though.
Eusebio
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Eusébio da Silva Ferreira | ||
| Date of birth | January 25, 1942 | ||
| Place of birth | Lourenço Marques , Mozambique | ||
| Date of death | 5 January 2014 (aged 71) | ||
| Place of death | Lisbon, Portugal | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Senior career | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1957–1960 | Sporting de Lourenço Marques | 42 | 77 |
| 1960–1975 | Benfica | 301 | 317 |
| 1975 | Boston Minutemen | 7 | 2 |
| 1975 | Monterrey | 10 | 1 |
| 1975–1976 | Toronto Metros-Croatia | 21 | 16 |
| 1976 | Beira-Mar | 12 | 3 |
| 1976–1977 | Las Vegas Quicksilvers | 17 | 2 |
| 1977–1978 | União de Tomar | 12 | 3 |
| 1978–1979 | New Jersey Americans | 9 | 2 |
| Total | 431 | 423 | |
| National team | |||
| 1961–1973 | Portugal | 64 | 41 |
He was nicknamed as ‘The Black Panther’ during his career.
This Mozambican-born Portuguese footballer’s full name is Eusebio de Silva Ferreira and during his career, he managed to score 733 goals in 745 matches.
In 1966, he became as the top scorer in the World Cup tournament by obtaining nine (9) goals and the Bronze Ball was awarded to him.
In his 22 years of playing football he played most of his career at Benfica, he played in the team for fifteen (15) years.
Diego Maradona
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Diego Armando Maradona Franco | ||
| Date of birth | 30 October 1960 (age 55) | ||
| Place of birth | Lanús , Buenos Aires , Argentina | ||
| Height | 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) | ||
| Playing position | Attacking midfielder | ||
| Second striker | |||
| Youth career | |||
| 1968–1969 | Estrella Roja | ||
| 1970–1974 | Los Cebollitas | ||
| 1975–1976 | Argentinos Juniors | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1976–1981 | Argentinos Juniors | 166 | 116 |
| 1981–1982 | Boca Juniors | 40 | 28 |
| 1982–1984 | Barcelona | 36 | 22 |
| 1984–1991 | Napoli | 188 | 81 |
| 1992–1993 | Sevilla | 26 | 5 |
| 1993–1994 | Newell's Old Boys | 5 | 0 |
| 1995–1997 | Boca Juniors | 30 | 7 |
| Total | 491 | 259 | |
| National team | |||
| 1977–1979 | Argentina U20 | 24 | 13 |
| 1977–1994 | Argentina | 91 | 34 |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1994 | Mandiyú de Corrientes | ||
| 1995 | Racing Club | ||
| 2008–2010 | Argentina | ||
| 2011–2012 | Al Wasl |
Diego Armando Maradona Franco is an Argentine footballer who is hailed as the FIFA Player of the 20th Century, he joint Pele on the list.
This attacking midfielder was the only footballer who had set world-record contract fee, not only once but twice! The first one is when he transferred to Barcelona, the contract fee that time was £5m and the second world-record fee is £6.9m and he obtained when he transferred to Napoli.
His controversial goal called ‘Hand of God’ goal and the second goal where he past five players where he dribbled 60m before he made the goal was voted in 2002 as ‘The Goal of the Century’.
Maradona has this trademark move, he gave accurate passes to his team mate but he’ll be dribbling from the right wing and once he is about to reach the opponent’s goal line he will make the pass.
Ronaldo
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima | ||
| Date of birth | 18 September 1976 (age 39) | ||
| Place of birth | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | ||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1990–1993 | São Cristóvão | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1993–1994 | Cruzeiro | 14 | 12 |
| 1994–1996 | PSV | 46 | 42 |
| 1996–1997 | Barcelona | 37 | 34 |
| 1997–2002 | Inter Milan | 68 | 49 |
| 2002–2007 | Real Madrid | 127 | 83 |
| 2007–2008 | Milan | 20 | 9 |
| 2009–2011 | Corinthians | 31 | 18 |
| Total | 343 | 247 | |
| National team | |||
| 1993 | Brazil U17 | 7 | 5 |
| 1996 | Brazil U23 | 8 | 6 |
| 1994–2011 | Brazil | 98 | 62 |
Ronaldo’s full name is Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima, is titled as ‘The Phenomenon’ during his football career. During the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, Ronaldo was feared once he got the soccer ball, he is described as an unstoppable striker, making goals from any position.
Ronaldo was also a Brazilian footballer who has excelled in the numbers of goals scored in every team he played with. He also holds the record for having the most goals at the World Cup, he scored his 15th World Cup goal in 2006.
Speaking of teams he played at, Ronaldo became a member of Cruzeiro, PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, AC Milan and Corinthians.
Ferenc Puskas
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 2 April 1927 | ||
| Place of birth | Budapest , Hungary | ||
| Date of death | 17 November 2006 (aged 79) | ||
| Place of death | Budapest, Hungary | ||
| Height | 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Senior career | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1943–1955 | Budapest Honvéd | 341 | 352 |
| 1958–1966 | Real Madrid | 180 | 156 |
| Total | 521 | 508 | |
| National team | |||
| 1945–1956 | Hungary | 85 | 84 |
| 1961–1962 | Spain | 4 | 0 |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1967 | San Francisco Golden Gate Gales | ||
| 1968 | Vancouver Royals | ||
| 1968–1969 | Deportivo Alavés | ||
| 1970–1974 | Panathinaikos | ||
| 1975 | Real Murcia | ||
| 1975–1976 | Colo-Colo | ||
| 1976–1977 | Saudi Arabia | ||
| 1978–1979 | AEK Athens | ||
| 1979–1982 | Al-Masry | ||
| 1985–1986 | Sol de América | ||
| 1986–1989 | Cerro Porteño | ||
| 1989–1992 | South Melbourne Hellas | ||
| 1993 | Hungary |
In terms of ratio of games played and scored, Ferenc Puskas, a Hungarian player seems to have the closest to Pele’s. In 529 matches he played, he scored 514 goals in Hungarian and Spanish leagues.
Also, in 1952, team Hungary managed to bring home the gold medal at the Olympics and also obtained a final place in the FIFA World Cup in 1954, Puskas was team captain back then and in 85 international matches played, he scored 84 times.
After retirement, Puskas became a coach and managed several teams such as Panathinaikos and other teams in Europe, Asia, Australia and America.
Pele
| Born | Edson Arantes do Nascimento | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 October 1940 (age 75) | |||
| Três Corações, Brazil | |||
| Occupation | Footballer (retired) | ||
| humanitarian | |||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||
| Spouse(s) | Rosemeri dos Reis Cholbi (m. 1966–82) | ||
| Assíria Lemos Seixas (m. 1994–2008) | |||
| Marcia Aoki (m. 2014) | |||
| Partner(s) | Xuxa (1981–86) | ||
| Children | 3 sons, 3 daughters | ||
| Parent(s) | Dondinho, Celeste Arantes | ||
| Association football career | |||
| Playing position | Forward | ||
| Attacking midfielder | |||
| Youth career | |||
| 1953–1956 | Bauru | ||
| Senior career | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1956–1974 | Santos | 638 | 619 |
| 1975–1977 | New York Cosmos | 56 | 31 |
| Total | 694 | 650 | |
| National team | |||
| 1957–1971 | Brazil | 91 | 77 |
Pele whose real name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento is a retired Brazilian footballer and is considered as the best striker of all time.
He scored 1,281 goals in 1,363 games and this statistics has not been beaten by any player until now. Pele is also titled as ‘The Black Pearl’, The King of Football or The King Pele during his time.
‘The King’ can score using his head even though he is not a tall player and also the tricky bicycle kick, he managed to score several of his goals with these techniques but these are not his trump card.
Pele can score goals with any of his legs, with this ability combined with speed, accuracy, power and ball control, guarding or marking him seems to be very tough. With 22 years of football career, Pele holds the Guinness World Records for “Most Career Goals in Football” and “Most World Cup Winners’ Medals”.
His last international match was in July 1971 against the Yugoslavia team.
