Porto President Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa recently challenged Cristiano Ronaldo to reach 1,000 career goals before retiring.
Ronaldo, at the age of 38, currently holds the world record for the most goals scored by a player in football history (considering FIFA-recognized matches), with 857 goals in 1,187 appearances for Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus, Al Nassr, and the Portuguese national team.
When asked if achieving the 1,000-goal milestone set by Pinto da Costa was feasible, Ronaldo cautiously responded, “It will be quite difficult, but the issue is how my spirit and motivation are. Physically, do my legs treat me as well as I treat them? We’ll see. There are short-term goals. Before reaching 1,000, I have to reach 900. I think I will get there.”
Sports Illustrated has analyzed the numbers to see if this goal is achievable.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 856th and 857th career goals when Portugal defeated Slovakia 3-2 last week. Ronaldo’s 857 career goals were achieved with an average rate of 0.72 goals per game. With that rate, he would need to play an additional 198 matches to reach the 1,000-goal milestone.
Ronaldo has averaged 51 games per year over the past five years. Therefore, if he continues to play and score at a similar rate, Ronaldo would need almost 4 more years to reach 1,000 goals. This seems challenging since he will be 42 years old in 4 years.
Ronaldo mentioned in June that he expected to retire from playing within “a maximum of 2 to 3 years.” If he sticks to that retirement plan, he would need to significantly increase his goal-scoring pace to achieve the four-digit milestone. Most players tend to play more lightly and less effectively in the later years of their careers.
However, CR7 currently faces much lower competition standards since he left European football clubs and joined the Saudi Pro League midway through the previous season. He scored 31 goals in 36 appearances for Al Nassr, averaging 0.86 goals per game. This season, the Portuguese superstar is even averaging 1 goal per game.
Assuming he can maintain this performance, Ronaldo would only need to participate in 143 more matches to reach the 1,000-goal mark. But even that optimistic estimate would require Ronaldo to play until August 2026, six months after turning 41.
Ronaldo was right. Reaching 1,000 goals is quite a challenging requirement. However, don’t be surprised if Ronaldo extends his career to pursue another hard-to-reach milestone. If Japanese forward Kazuyoshi Miura can still play in the Portuguese second division at the age of 56, it’s certain that Ronaldo can do it too!
