About this chart race
Cristiano Ronaldo enters this race in 2014 on 52 goals and finishes on 146 — he has added 94 international goals in 12 years, more than Pelé scored in his entire career (77). Lionel Messi, who appears from 2016, has added 68 over the same stretch and now sits 21 behind. Seven of the twelve players in the 2008 top twelve finish 2026 on exactly the number they started with, because their careers were over before the race began.
This animated ranking shows how career international goals changed across 26 series between 2008 and 2026. The bars re-order themselves as the years advance, so overtakes are visible as they happen rather than hidden inside a table. Use the list on the left to choose exactly who competes, drag the slider to jump to any year, or open the table view to read the underlying numbers.
As of 2026, Cristiano Ronaldo leads with 146 goals.
Included in this race
Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Ali Daei, Sunil Chhetri, Romelu Lukaku, Robert Lewandowski, Mokhtar Dahari, Harry Kane, Ali Mabkhout, Ferenc Puskás, Neymar, Kunishige Kamamoto, Godfrey Chitalu, Hussein Saeed, Piyapong Pue-on, Pelé, Sándor Kocsis, Bashar Abdullah, Majed Abdullah, Miroslav Klose, Kiatisuk Senamuang, Stern John, Hossam Hassan, Gerd Müller, Jassem Al-Houwaidi, Ronaldo.
Source
Data from Wikipedia — List of men’s footballers with 50 or more international goals. Check the stated period and methodology. Animated transitions between source observations are visual interpolation, not additional measurements.
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