Akin Ayomide
Portugal and Al Nassr striker, Cristiano Ronaldo, is on the verge of achieving a milestone no male footballer has ever reached: 1,000 career goals.
Following his recent brace against Hungary in the World Cup qualifiers, the Portuguese legend has now scored a staggering 948 goals across club and international competitions, 805 at club level and 143 for Portugal. He also became the all-time leading scorer in World Cup qualifying history, surpassing Carlos Ruiz on 39, with Lionel Messi third in the list on 36.
Ronaldo turned 40 in February, but he continues to rack up impressive numbers at club level as well as internationally, albeit against weaker opposition in Saudi Arabia, where he has scored 104 goals in 117 appearances across four seasons with Al-Nassr.
With 32 goals already for club and country in 2025, he is maintaining a remarkably consistent level of productivity in front of goal. Ronaldo has averaged more than 50 goals per calendar year since 2010. His highest scoring year came in 2013, when he smashed 69 goals and won the Ballon d’Or.
Amazingly, his total has only dipped below 39 goals once in a calendar year in the last decade and a half.
With Portugal set to qualify for next summer’s World Cup, and with two years to go on his Al-Nassr contract, Ronaldo is projected to become the first player in recorded history to reach the 1,000-goal mark in October 2026 based on his current scoring rate.