Pelé
Gerd Müller
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Pelé leads 2 of 2 categories. Our all-time ranking places Pelé at #2 and Gerd Müller at #12.
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The case for Pelé
The only player with three World Cups — and he announced himself at 17 with a semifinal hat-trick against France and two goals in the 1958 final against Sweden, then bookended his international career by orchestrating the 1970 side widely considered the greatest team ever assembled. In between, Santos built a global brand on his shoulders, touring the world and twice winning the Copa Libertadores and Intercontinental Cup (1962, 1963). His 757 goals in 831 official matches stood as the benchmark for decades, and his 643 for Santos was the single-club record until Messi passed it in 2020; counting friendlies — which for touring Santos were often full-strength fixtures — Guinness credits him with 1,279. His 77 goals in 92 Brazil games remained the national record until 2023. Skeptics note the untelevised opposition and the era's chaotic defending; his answer was delivered against the best available, in three World Cups, at a goals-per-game rate no modern great matches.
The case for Gerd Müller
Der Bomber der Nation — the most ruthlessly efficient goalscorer the sport has produced. Squat and unspectacular but impossible to mark in the six-yard box, Müller scored 68 goals in just 62 internationals for West Germany, including the winner in the 1974 World Cup final and the golden-boot-topping 10 goals of the 1970 tournament. His single-season Bundesliga record of 40 goals in 1971-72 stood for nearly fifty years, until Robert Lewandowski managed 41 in 2020-21, and his 365 Bundesliga goals remain the competition's all-time mark by a distance. He won the 1970 Ballon d'Or, the 1972 European Championship, and three consecutive European Cups with Bayern Munich from 1974 to 1976, finishing with over 600 goals in senior club and international football. Not a dribbler or a creator — a finisher of pure, remorseless instinct, whose economy in front of goal set the template every poacher since has been measured against.