The 10 footballers with most goals before turning 30: Pele above Messi & Ronaldo… | OneFootball

Former Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Chelsea stars are amongst the footballers with the most goals scored before turning 30.

It’s becoming increasingly common for footballers to play well into their late thirties, but that hasn’t always been the case.

Using data provided by the RSSSF, here are the 10 footballers with the most goals before turning 30.

1. Pele – 675 goals

As per the records of the RSSSF, Pele scored 778 offical goals during his career, although that figure rises to 1,324 when including friendly and other non-competitive goals.

Of the 778 offical goals that Pele scored, 675 of them came before he turned 30 in 1970.

For many, the Brazilian is the greatest player to have ever played the beautiful game and his record of 675 goals before turning 30 is safe for now.

2. Ferenc Deak – 635 goals

Prior to Pele breaking the record, Deak once held the accolade as the highest-scoring player before turning 30.

The Hungarian forward played between 1940 and 1959, scoring the bulk of his goals for Szentliorinci AC and Ferencvarosi TC.

3. Thomas Lawton – 632 goals

Lawton started his professional career at the age of 17 and scored a bucketful of goals during the 1930s and 1940s.

Like most players at the time, Lawton’s career was impacted by World War II, although he was able to continue playing wartime matches for Everton during that period.

In 1947, he was signed by Notts County for a British transfer record of £20,000 and he went on to score over 100 goals for the club in five years.

4. Erwin Helmchen – 629 goals

As per the record-keeping of the RSSSF, Helmchen is the highest-scoring player in football history with 989 goals.

However, as the bulk of his goals were scored in the German lower divisions, he isn’t recognised as football’s most prolific player by most analysts.

While he didn’t play at the highest level, he still scored all of those goals, 629 of which came before he turned 30.

5. Joseph Bambrick – 610 goals

Bambrick once scored six goals in one game for Ireland during a game against Wales back in 1930.

He enjoyed stints in England with Chelsea and Walsall, but scored the bulk of his goals in Ireland for Linfield.

6. Fred Roberts – 600 goals

Roberts spent his career playing in Northern Ireland and racked up a staggering 600 goals before turning 30 during stints with Glentoran and Distillery.

7. Samuel Hughes – 599 goals

Like Roberts, Hughes enjoyed his career in Northern Ireland and scored the bulk of his goals in the 1940s while playing for Glentoran.

=8. James Jones – 593 goals

Jones had a real impact with Belfast Celtic in the 1940s and the club even rejected a £16,000 offer from Newcastle United for his services.

He spent the bulk of his career with Glenavon, where he scored over 500 goals across a 10-year span.

=8. Lionel Messi – 593 goals

Messi was already receiving GOAT shouts when he was in his early twenties, highlighting just how good the Argentine wizard was during his younger years.

These days, the 38-year-old has refined his game and is still scoring goals for fun, but before turning 30, Messi was a goalscoring freak.

He still holds the record for the most goals scored in a calendar year, with 91 in 2012 and managed to score an impressive 593 goals before turning 30.

For those wondering where Cristiano Ronaldo would be on this list, he scored 483 goals before turning 30, which would have him 20th in the overall rankings.

10. Gerd Muller – 570 goals

In total, Muller scored 735 goals throughout his career, with 570 of them coming before he turned 30.

He still holds the record as Bayern Munich’s all-time top scorer and is Germany’s second-highest scoring player, only behind Miroslav Klose.