Lionel Messi closing in on top spot for the most free-kick goals in football history | OneFootball

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been compared on everything from goals and assists to trophies and records, so naturally their free-kick numbers have attracted plenty of attention too.

The two era-defining icons rank among the most prolific free-kick goalscorers in history, but one of them has a clear upper hand.

‘One of the records that Messi will never dare to break of Ronaldo’ was the headline of a 2017 Yahoo Sports article that has since gone viral, screenshotted and shared widely, given that it hasn’t aged all that well.

In fairness, it was a reasonable conclusion to draw at the time, the writer noting that Messi had scored just 34 free-kick goals in comparison to Ronaldo’s tally of 53. Even with years of their careers to go, the idea of the Argentinian catching a near 20-goal gap felt unlikely.

Well, that’s exactly what’s happened. Messi has refined his free-kick technique in his thirties and streaked ahead of Ronaldo, with 75 free-kick goals to Ronaldo’s 63 at the time of writing.

The six free-kick goals that Messi has scored in 2026 have seen him move up to second in the all-time rankings, leapfrogging three legendary Brazilian dead-ball specialists – Lyon great Juninho Pernambucano, the wonderfully named Roberto Dinamite and 1950 World Cup icon Jair – in the process.

Messi just stands behind one more Brazilian – 1990s and early 2000s journeyman Marcelinho Carioca – for the most free-kick goals scored in history. Given that he’s already scored six in 2026, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner appears destined to break one more incredible record before he finally hangs up his boots.

The rest of the list is packed with some of the most iconic set-piece specialists in football history, stretching across generations and continents.

There are plenty of familiar names in the chasing pack. David Beckham and Alessandro Del Piero both feature on 53, while Shunsuke Nakamura, Ronaldinho and Rogerio Ceni all broke the 55-goal mark.

Diego Maradona and Zico are further up the list on 61 and 62 respectively, while Ronaldo currently sits ninth with 63. The 41-year-old Portugal international could conceivably surpass the likes of Jorge Aravena, Sinisa Mihajlovic and Marcos Assuncao by the time he retires, but at this point it appears unlikely he’ll ever make it up to the top five.

We’ve taken a closer look at the record books and have found the 17 players with the most free-kick goals in football history.