Cristiano surpasses Pelé in goals and opens a world debate

Cristiano Ronaldo continues to rewrite history. In today’s game, in Juventus’ 4-1 victory against Udinese, the Portuguese scored two goals and managed to beat the legendary Pelé in so many converted in official matches: 758 wins. Of course, unlike O Rei, who achieved it in 815 games, CR7 did it in 1035.

His feat is being applauded around the world, but it reopened a recurring debate: Who is the greatest scorer in history? Although some rankings give Pele – and now Cristiano – the top gunner on the planet, the RSSF site, one of the most reliable, barely places Basel in third place.

Who leads that list is the Austrian Josef Bican, with 805 goals in 501 games, counted from 1931 to 1955. And then there is another Brazilian, Romario, who has recorded 772 conquests. There, Pelé appears with 767 annotations.

Bican’s record is even endorsed by FIFA, which in September last year published an article with his story and his goals, reaffirming him as the greatest scorer of all time, since there are records. “Not even O Rei Pelé, who claims to have scored 1,283 goals, did better. The legendary Brazilian includes in his total the goals scored in unofficial matches, and if we do the same with Bican, his harvest is estimated at 1,468 points “, the note reads.

Pepi Bican was born in Vienna on September 25, 1913. He was always characterized by his speed, achieving a personal record of 10.8 seconds in the 100 meters, a feat that he could perfectly have represented Austria in the Olympic Games, even reaching to the Olympic final, if we think that in Berlin 1936, Jesse Owens achieved the world record and the gold medal with 10.3 seconds.

Bican was a scorer in all the teams he defended. Rapid (1931-1935), Admire Vienna (1935-1937), Slavia Prague (1937-1949), Viktovické Zelezarny (1949-1951), Skoda Hradec Kralové (1951-1953) and Dynamo Prague (1953-1955). The most curious thing is that after his retirement he returned to work as a laborer, bus driver and even animal feeder at the Prague Zoo.

His name is a world reference, but Cristiano is still hunting for his record. The Portuguese is 35 years old, but if he maintains the rhythm of goals that he has been presenting, he could retire as the top scorer in world history, since only 48 conquests separate him from Pepi.