The former Real Madrid star scored again for Al Nassr on Friday and still needs 89 goals to break the 1,000 mark.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored again as Al Nassr lost to former Real Madrid teammate Nacho's Al Qadsiah in the Saudi Pro League on Friday, taking his career total to 911 goals.
There has been much talk about whether the Portugal captain can score a thousand goals in senior football, although he himself has recently played down that suggestion, claiming he was “living in the moment” and “not thinking about the long term”. At the same time, he has previously publicly stated that he wants to reach 1,000 goals…
You don't have to be a mathematician to figure out that Ronaldo is currently 89 goals away from that target, which doesn't seem like much considering his consistently incredible scoring rate. But the five-time Ballon d'Or winner turns 40 in February, so can we expect this pace to continue? There are few signs of him slowing down.
Could Cristiano Ronaldo realistically score a thousand goals?
Since joining Sporting Lisbon in 2002, Ronaldo has scored 911 goals in 1,252 appearances for club and country, a figure of around 0.73 per game. To find the net another 89 times at that pace, he would have to play another 122 games to reach the milestone.
Another approach is to only consider his goalscoring form since his move to Al Nassr, where he is likely to remain unless something drastic happens. As of early 2023, Ronaldo scored 92 goals in 107 games (75 in 86 for Al Nassr, 17 in 21 for Portugal). At that rate (0.86 per game), he would only have to play 104 more games to get to 1,000.
Using a slightly different – and simpler – measure, the required figures are almost identical to those he has recorded since January 2023. So if he continues in the same vein, he could reach four figures sometime around the end of August 2026 (in a year and nine months, the same period it took him to score 88 goals after joining Al Nassr).
That would take him well past his 42nd birthday. But considering he has stated he will never retire from international football and he is already so close, it is certainly a target worth pursuing.
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