On November 19, 1969, the famous Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro was the scene of an important milestone in the history of world Football. Brazilian legend Pelé, one of the greatest players of all time, scored the 1,000th goal of his career. Incredibly, he achieved this goal in his 909th match, at the age of 29.
Edson Arantes do Nascimento, dit “Pelé” (1940-2022), is an absolute legend in the history of football. He won the World Cup three times with the Brazilian national team (1958, 1962, 1970) and was named best player of the 20th century. Skin also won a very large number of individual and collective trophies and awards and scored countless goals.
His thousandth was scored during his club's match, Santosagainst Vasco da Gama. After his goal, many of the 80,000 fans flocked to the pitch to be even closer to this crucial moment in football history. It is important to mention that these people were mostly supporters of Vasco da Gamathe team from Rio de Janeiro where the match took place.
Skin was celebrated even by the players of the opposing team. The guardian of Vasco da Gamaafter conceding a goal on a penalty from Skintook off his jersey to reveal a congratulatory message written on a t-shirt.
Skin scored most of his goals in the jersey of Santosa club from Sao Paolo. Later in his career he scored goals in the United States, where he played for the New York Cosmos and, of course, he also scored many goals for the Brazilian national team.
He was for a long time the top scorer in the history of Brazil. In 92 matches for the Selectionhe scored 77 goals (a ratio of 0.84 goals per match). In 2023, however, the record Skin was equaled and then surpassed by Neymar (who currently has 79 goals in 128 matches, a ratio of 0.62 goals per match).
The best scorer of all time?
Skin stopped at 1,281 goals (in 1,363 matches). This figure also includes many friendly and unofficial matches, which can be controversial. However, these were once a very common and competitive part of football. Therefore, it is simply impossible to accurately compare who is the top scorer of all time.
The Czech legend Josef Bican also scored many goals. Regarding Bicanwho represented the Czechoslovakia et Austria at the international level, the statistics are even more divergent. According to research carried out by the RSSSF (Rec. Sport Soccer Statistics Foundation), an organization described by the German newspaper The mirror like a “Wikipedia of football statistics“, Bican scored more than 950 goals (in 624 matches). Another source even claims that he scored as many as 1,813 goals (in 1,089 appearances).
Pour Skinas for Bicanthere is the problem of matches to take into account and the unreliability of statistics. Both were undoubtedly great scorers, but if we only take into account the officially recorded matches (although it must be emphasized once again that this is not very clear regarding Pele and Bican), the best scorers in the history of football are Cristiano Ronaldo et Lionel Messi.
Selon l’IFFHS (The International Federation of Football History & Statistics), Ronaldo currently has 910 goals (in 1,245 matches) while Messi has 850 (in 1,082 matches). Skin occupies third place (762 goals), Romario the fourth (756), Ferenc Puskas the fifth (725) and Bican the sixth (722).
November 19: scorers’ day
Today, November 19, is apparently the fateful day for record goals. On this day, in 1960, Jimmy Greaves scored a hat-trick for Chelsea during the 6-3 victory over Manchester City in a Premier League match at Stamford Bridge. In doing so, he scored his 100th league goal and, at 20 years and 290 days old, he became the youngest player to score 100 goals in England's top division.
There are only a few players who have reached 100 goals faster than Greaves – but also in this case there is a problem with the statistics. One of them is definitely Skin. The Brazilian scored his 100th goal for Santos during his 81st match, on November 5, 1958. He was then 18 years and 13 days old.
Another player who reached the 100 goal mark very quickly, and even in the jersey of the same club and the same national team, Santos and the BrazilEast Neymarwho scored his 100th goal on his 20th birthday.
And you must be wondering how fast Erling Haalandtoday's greatest scorer, reached the milestone of 100 goals… In his case, it was also very fast. He actually scored his 100th goal while he was still playing Borussia Dortmundat the age of 20 years and 228 days.
