Posted by The legend of Brazilian footballer Pele’s goal total has long been a topic of discussion among fans of the game.
The majority of statisticians estimate the legend’s total to be between 1,281 and 1,283, while FIFA estimates his entire record to be around 1,200.
Over 1,000 of those goals are credited to his first club, Santos, with the majority going to the New York Cosmos and the Brazil national team.
However, because there were doubts regarding the legitimacy of several of Pele’s goals, the majority of them were not counted.
The legendary Brazil player scored over half of his goals in exhibition games. And he participated in these friendly games while enlisting in the army.
Many contend that such goals do not have the same significance as goals scored in competitive games for this reason, particularly when compared to goals scored by contemporary stars like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Pele, though, never had a problem with it. For instance, Messi overtook Pele’s 643 official goals for Santos when he scored his 644th goal for Barcelona in December 2020.
The great Brazilian thanked them both after Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 768th goal, three more than Pele’s total (official for club and nation). This occurred two months later.
Because friendlies used to be considerably more competitive than they are now, Pele’s fans still believe the Brazilian’s goal total to be superior.
During Santos’ 1960s European tour, he scored goals against AC Milan, Juventus, and Napoli; Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atletico; Anderlecht, Feyenoord, and Red Star Belgrade.
Against Inter Milan, one of the top teams in Italy, the former striker scored eight goals in seven games. In five games against AS Roma, he scored six goals, while in seven games against Benfica, he scored ten.