Cristiano Ronaldo has overtaken Josef Bican as FIFA’s all-time record goalscorer in competitive matches with his first-half double against Tottenham.
Prague-born Bican had been recognised in 2020 by FIFA Bican’s for his total of 805 goals as the most in world football and Ronaldo’s thunderous long-range strike against Tottenham drew him level with that total.
The Portuguese striker took things up another notch and finished from close-range to make it 2-1 to United, hence making the number 7 the sole holder of the accolade ahead of Bican, who played international football for Austria in the 1930s before switching to Czechoslovakia.
Ronaldo has not been faring too badly this season, having now scored 17 goals in all competitions in his return campaign with Manchester United, and the last time the striker didn’t get into double figures for goals was the 2004/05 season, when he accumulated only nine.
It was at Real Madrid that the Portuguese was most prolific, scoring 450 goals in 438 games across an amazing nine-year period, spectacularly accumulating a total of 15 trophies, including four Champions Leagues, hence becoming the club’s all-time top goalscorer in the process.
Bican, for the record, achieved spectacular results when playing at SK Slavia Prague, accumulating 535 goals in just 272 appearances at the club.
Ronaldo’s latest feat is bua just another in his long list of achievements, among which is being the all-time record holder for most Champions League goals (140), and most international goals in world football (115).
Ronaldo’s double puts him on par with Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record of 95 Premier League goals for United, with the striker moving above Andy Cole and closes in on 100.