Could Cristiano Ronaldo score 1,000 goals in his career? When could he reach that milestone?

Cristiano Ronaldo scored yet again as Al Nassr lost to former Real Madrid teammate Nacho’s Al Qadsiah in the Saudi Pro League on Friday, taking his career tally to 911 goals.

Much has been made about whether the Portugal captain can get to 1,000 goals in senior professional soccer, although he himself recently played down that suggestion, claiming he was “living in the moment” and “not thinking long term”. At the same time, he has previously public stated his desire to reach 1,000 goals…

You don’t need to be a mathematician to work out Ronaldo is currently 89 goals shy of that target, which doesn’t seem all that much given his consistently incredible scoring rate. But the five-time Ballon d’Or winner will turn 40 in February, so should we expect said rate to continue? There are few signs of him slowing down.

Could Cristiano Ronaldo realistically score 1,000 goals?

Since starting out at Sporting Lisbon in 2002, Ronaldo has scored 911 goals in 1,252 appearances for club and country, a rate of approximately 0.73 per game. To find the net another 89 times at that pace, he would have to play 122 more games to hit the milestone.

Another approach is to only consider his goalscoring form since his move to Al Nassr, where he appears likely to stay unless something drastic happens. From the beginning of 2023 onwards, Ronaldo has scored 92 goals in 107 appearances (75 in 86 for Al Nassr, 17 in 21 for Portugal). Using that rate (0.86 per game), he would need to play only another 104 games to get to 1,000.

Using a slightly different - and simpler - metric, the numbers required are almost identical to the ones he has registered since January 2023. So if he continues in the same vein, he could reach four figures sometime around the end of August 2026 (in a year and nine months’ time, the same period it took him to score 88 goals after joining Al Nassr).

That would take him well past his 42nd birthday. But given he has stated he will never retire from international soccer and he is already so close, it’s surely a target worth chasing.

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