• Home
  • News
  • How Many Goals Did Pele Score And His Other Career Records

How many goals did Pele score and his other career records

Pele

The number of goals Pele scored has always been a topic for hot debate. Planet Sport crunches the numbers.

Pele passed away aged 82 on December 29, 2022, and he will be most remembered for goal scoring ability.
He burst on to the global scene as a 17-year-old at the 1958 World Cup, helping Brazil to the first of their record five successes.
Pele scored the first of his 77 Brazil goals in 92 appearances to knock Wales out of the 1958 World Cup in Sweden at the quarter-final stage.
Injury affected Pele's contribution to the 1962 and 1966 finals, but he returned to lead Brazil to a third triumph in Mexico in 1970.
Officially, Pele scored 757 goals in 831 games during a glittering career from 1957 to 1977, although club Santos claim his tally was closer to 1,000.
Planet Sport runs through some of his key career stats:

3 - the record number of World Cups won by Pele, in 1958, 1962 and 1970.

17 - Pele's age in the 1958 tournament - he remains the youngest man to play in a World Cup final and to score a World Cup hat-trick.

3 - goals in World Cup finals - two against Sweden in 1958 and one against Italy in 1970.

77 - goals for Brazil, a record that was recently matched by Neymar.

1,281 - Pele's career goal tally, according to FIFA's official website. The disputed total includes friendly games.

767 - his goals in official matches, as tracked by the Rec Sport Soccer Statistics Foundation. Those goals came in 831 games.

1,089 - goals for his long-time Brazilian club Santos - though again, friendlies are included. The RSSSF lists his competitive record as 643 in 659 games, the most by a player for any one club until surpassed by Lionel Messi's 672 for Barcelona.

2 - clubs represented in his career - Santos and the New York Cosmos.

6 - Brazilian league titles won with Santos - every year from 1961 to 1965, plus 1968. He added the 1977 North American Soccer League title with the Cosmos.

More Articles