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Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Pele - who are the top goalscorers in football history?

Arguably the greatest Swedish footballer of all time, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is certainly one of football’s most renowned goal scorers and most lethal strikers.A towering figure, both mentally and physically, Ibrahimovic has bagged goals wherever he has gone, starring for some of Europe's best clubs.His unique brand of playful arrogance earned him plenty of detractors during his career, but none can take away from his prowess as a goalscorer.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic | 561 goals | 1999-2023

Irish League legend Glenn Ferguson scored 563 goals during a trophy-laden career that saw him shine for Glenavon and Linfield in particular.

Glenn Ferguson | 563 goals | 1987-2011

Known as O Rei in Portugal, Eusebio was one of the most prolific goalscorers of the 1960s and 1970s, spearheading a Benfica side which dominated domestically and conquered Europe.An iconic figure in Lisbon, fondly remember by fans across the world,&nbsp;Eusebio boasted an incredible goals-per-game ratio, with 619 goals in 639 games.

Eusebio | 578 goals | 1960-1978

Uruguayan hot-shot Luis Suarez is one of South America's greatest goalscorers, banging them in for some of the biggest teams in the world. Suarez has been a key player for Ajax, Liverpool, Barcelona and decided to wind his career down at Inter Miami alongside fellow South American Lionel Messi.

Luis Suarez | 587 goals | 2005-present

While names such as Johan Cruyff and Dennis Bergkamp are more frequently recalled when admiring Dutch football brilliance, it is Abe Lenstra who is the country's greatest ever goalscorer. Lenstra's career spanned three decades and he regularly scored more than a goal a game for Heerenveen. He also bagged 33 goals in 47 caps for the Netherlands.

Abe Lenstra | 624 goals | 1936-1963

Joe Bambrick is the another Northern Ireland international on this list, the others being Jimmy Jones and Glenn Ferguson. Bambrick plied his trade two decades before Jones, but they shared a common trait of scoring goals for fun. It's no wonder, Brambick scored a total of 626 goals throughout his career.The centre-forward played for Chelsea between 1935 to 1938, netting 34 goals. However, he spent his best career years at&nbsp;Linfield, where he fired a phenomenal&nbsp;286 league goals&nbsp;from just 183 games, 50 of these arrived in the 1930–31 campaign, which was the highest in the world that year.He earned a reputation for scoring spectacular goals with rasping shots and old time piledrivers from incredible distances.

Joe Bambrick | 626 goals | 1926-1943

The supreme poacher, Gerd Muller was renowned for his predatory instincts in the penalty area.The Bayern Munich icon, who scored the winner for West Germany in the 1974 World Cup final, averaged more than a goal a game at international level (68 in just 62 matches).A short and stocky striker blessed with explosive power,&nbsp;'Der Bomber' bowed out with an overall record of 634 goals.

Gerd Muller | 634 goals | 1964-1981

Jimmy Jones spent most of his career in his homeland, where he was next to unstoppable and made a notorious habit of finding the back of the net at an alarming rate.The leading goalscorer in the history Irish League football, he netted a whopping 517 times for Glenavon, topping their goal charts for 10 consecutive seasons between 1952-53 and 1961-62, and returned a career tally of 647 for his various clubs.His shooting technique was neither sophisticated or convoluted, and he was the archetypal muscular, bratty centre-forward, capable of hammering the ball with either foot and score from any position.

Jimmy Jones | 639 goals | 1947-1964

Many footballers have been braded as goal machines, but few strikers in the modern era have justified the tag more comprehensively than Polish hitman Robert Lewandowski.Named the&nbsp;best player in the world&nbsp;in 2020 and 2021 by FIFA, Lewandowski made his name in Dortmund before cementing his legend at Bayern Munich, shattering numerous goal-scoring records in Bundesliga. He's currently plying his trade for another iconic club in the form of Barcelona.Lewandowski has also enjoyed a stellar international career, and is the all-time top scorer for Poland and the third overall men's international goalscorer in Europe, only behind Romelu Lukaku and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Robert Lewandowski | 669 goals | 2008-present

One of the most prolific goalscorers in football history, yet few know the name of Josef&nbsp;Bican.&nbsp;A star in Austria in the 1930s, he was a member of the side that reached the 1934 World Cup semi-finals, but he actually continued playing until 1955, eventually retiring at the age of 42.By that point, Bican, a two-footed forward blessed with sprinter-like pace, had racked up over 700 goals. There have been numerous contradictory reports about Bican’s official tally of goals. Some team-mates even claimed he'd actually scored more than 5,000 - something that Bican never denied, simply saying&nbsp;"who'd have believed me if I said I'd scored five times as many goals as Pele?..."

Josef Bican | 722 goals  | 1931-1955

Ferenc Puskas was known as 'The Galloping Major', a key man in two of the greatest sides in football history: Hungary's 'Magnificent Magyars' and Real Madrid's 1960 European Cup winners.He was small, portly and his right foot wasn't particularly strong; his left, however, was a cannon and, with it, he scored the majority of his goals&nbsp;in a career that spanned between 1943 to 1966.

Ferenc Puskas | 725 goals | 1943-1966

Brazil legend Ronaldo says he learned about the art of goalscoring from Romario, a man described by former Barcelona coach Johann Cruyff as "a genius" in the penalty area.Indeed, Romario was one of the most clinical finishers the game has ever seen, as underlined by his record of 775 goals.

Romario | 756 goals | 1985-2007

Regarded by Franz Beckenbauer as the greatest player of all time, Pele was also one of the most prolific forwards the game has ever known.A three-time World Cup winner with Brazil, 'The King' is still, for many, the greatest player ever to grace the beautiful, having netted 762 goals&nbsp;throughout his glittering, trophy-laden career.

Pele | 762 goals | 1957-1977

Regarded by many as the greatest player in history, Lionel Messi is as exceptional at taking chances as he is at creating them. Indeed, to date, the diminutive Argentine has racked up over 800 goals in just over 1000 competitive outings.Furthermore, while he's now well into his thirties and no longer plying his trade in Europe, Messi is arguably more complete than ever before, meaning the sky remains the limit for a player considered "an alien" by&nbsp;goalkeeping great Gigi Buffon.

Lionel Messi | 855 goals | 2004-present

We are unlikely to see another striker as exceptional as Cristiano Ronaldo, whose goal-scoring mentality has made him the master of marksmen in sporting history. After starting out as fleet-footed winger, the Portuguese star dominated the goalscoring charts for the bulk of the 21st century, and has broken one record after another, posting tallies in the Champions League that may never be surpassed. A modern-day Real Madrid legend, he remarkably showed no signs of slowing down in his 30s and continued to hit the back of the net at an impressive rate for the likes of Juventus and Manchester United. Ronaldo is also the leading the goal-scoring charts in International football and also the highest goalscorer in the history of football. And he's not done yet as he embarks a new challenge to plunder Asian football after conquering Europe.

Cristiano Ronaldo | 929 goals | 2002-present

Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Romario, Pele - who are the top goalscorers in football history? | Goal.com

GOAL looks at where Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi rank compared to Pele and Co. when it comes to the question of best goalscorer of all time...