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RSSSF

Available in	English
Creators	Lars Aarhus Kent Hedlundh Karel Stokkermans
Website	rsssf.org
Launched	January 1994 (1994-01), as Northern European Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (NERSSSF)
Current status	Active

The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about football, aiming to build an exhaustive archive of the related information from around the world.

The RSSSF website contains football-related statistics in the form of lists without commentary and it is maintained by volunteer contributors.^[1] It is considered one of "the most complete" publicly available statistical football databases in the world, and has extensive information on games and line-ups.^[2] According to its founders, this enterprise was created in January 1994^[3] by three regulars of the rec.sport.soccer (RSS) Usenet newsgroup: Lars Aarhus, Kent Hedlundh, and Karel Stokkermans. It was originally known as the "North European Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation", but the geographical reference was dropped as its membership from other regions grew.

The RSSSF has members and contributors from all around the world and has spawned seven spin-off projects to more closely follow the leagues of that project's home country. The spin-off projects are dedicated to Albania, Brazil, Denmark, Norway, Romania, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Egypt. In November 2002, the Polish service 90minut.pl became the official branch of RSSSF Poland.^[4]

The Rec.Sport.Soccer Player of the Year Award was an annual football award presented by the organisation. First presented in 1992, the readers of the newsgroup voted in a format similar to that of the France Football's Ballon d'Or award. It recognised the best player in the world and was discontinued after the 2005 edition.^[5] Brazil's Ronaldinho was the last ever winner, in 2005.

Award winners[5] Year Rank Player Team Votes 1992 1st Marco van Basten AC Milan 207 2nd Hristo Stoichkov Barcelona 87 3rd Peter Schmeichel Manchester United 62 1993 1st Roberto Baggio Juventus 407 2nd Romário Barcelona 295 3rd Dennis Bergkamp Inter Milan 178 1994 1st Romário Barcelona 269 2nd Hristo Stoichkov Barcelona 254 3rd Paolo Maldini AC Milan 158 1995 1st George Weah AC Milan 153 2nd Paolo Maldini AC Milan 102 3rd Patrick Kluivert Ajax 88 1996 1st Ronaldo Barcelona 348 2nd Alan Shearer Newcastle United 241 3rd Matthias Sammer Borussia Dortmund 215 1997 1st Ronaldo Inter Milan 276 2nd Zinedine Zidane Juventus 129 3rd Gabriel Batistuta Fiorentina 75 1998 1st Zinedine Zidane Juventus 335 2nd Gabriel Batistuta Fiorentina 175 3rd Lilian Thuram Parma 136 1999 1st Rivaldo Barcelona 536 2nd David Beckham Manchester United 313 3rd Andriy Shevchenko AC Milan 186 2000 1st Luís Figo Real Madrid 648 2nd Zinedine Zidane Juventus 535 3rd Rivaldo Barcelona 272 2001 1st Michael Owen Liverpool 288 2nd Luís Figo Real Madrid 234 3rd Raúl Real Madrid 216 2002 1st Ronaldo Real Madrid 447 2nd Roberto Carlos Real Madrid 371 3rd Zinedine Zidane Real Madrid 341 2003 1st Pavel Nedvěd Juventus 818 2nd Thierry Henry Arsenal 540 3rd Zinedine Zidane Real Madrid 350 2004 1st Ronaldinho Barcelona 437 2nd Andriy Shevchenko AC Milan 329 3rd Deco Barcelona 297 2005 1st Ronaldinho Barcelona 482 2nd Frank Lampard Chelsea 281 3rd Steven Gerrard Liverpool 191

Wins by player Player Winner Second place Third place Ronaldo 3 (1996, 1997, 2002) — — Ronaldinho 2 (2004, 2005) — — Zinedine Zidane 1 (1998) 2 (1997, 2000) 2 (2002, 2003) Romário 1 (1994) 1 (1993) — Luís Figo 1 (2000) 1 (2001) — Rivaldo 1 (1999) — 1 (2000) Marco van Basten 1 (1992) — — Roberto Baggio 1 (1993) — — George Weah 1 (1995) — — Michael Owen 1 (2001) — — Pavel Nedvěd 1 (2003) — — Wins by nationality Nationality Players Wins  Brazil 4 7  France 1 1  England 1 1  Portugal 1 1  Italy 1 1  Netherlands 1 1  Liberia 1 1  Czech Republic 1 1 Wins by club Club Players Wins Barcelona 4 5 Juventus 3 3 Real Madrid 2 2 AC Milan 2 2 Inter Milan 1 1 Liverpool 1 1

As of 3 August 2026.

Bold indicates players currently active.

+ indicates player may have scored and played more.

The RSSSF compiles its list using a four-table method that separates official matches from all matches and top-level matches from all matches at top level; official matches comprise first-class senior club and international fixtures, the all-matches tables also include friendlies, exhibition games, and other non-official matches, and the top-level tables are restricted to the highest national league and international matches against top-level opposition.^[6]

Official Matches – Top level

Rank	Player	Goals	Career span
1	Cristiano Ronaldo	978	2002–present
2	Lionel Messi	921	2003–present
3	Pelé	770	1956–1977
4	Romário	761	1984–2009
5	Ferenc Puskás	760	1943–1967
6	Josef Bican	743	1930–1957
7	Robert Lewandowski	697	2004–present
8	Jimmy Jones	659	1943–1965
9	Abe Lenstra	645	1936–1964
10	Gerd Müller	640	1963–1981

All Matches – Top level

Rank	Player	Official goals (top level)	International friendlies	National friendlies vs top-league teams and tournaments	Total	Career span
1	Pelé	770	396	108	1,274	1956–1977
2	Josef Bican	743	195	143	1,081	1930–1957
3	Cristiano Ronaldo	978	44	3	1,025	2002–present
4	Ferenc Puskás	761	179	71	1,011	1943–1967

RSSSF currently lists only four players in this table.

Official Matches

Rank	Player	Goals	Matches	Ratio	Career span
1	Cristiano Ronaldo	994	1,366	0.73	2002–present
2	Erwin Helmchen	989+	582	1.70	1924–1951
3	Josef Bican	950+	624	1.52	1930–1957
4	Lionel Messi	948	1,220	0.78	2003–present
5	Ronnie Rooke	940+	1,035	0.91	1929–1961
6	Jimmy Jones	840+	760	1.11	1943–1965
7	Ferenc Puskás	802	792	1.01	1943–1967
8	Ferenc Deák	795+	515	1.54	1939–1959
9	Abe Lenstra	790+	850	0.93	1936–1964
10	Romário	785	1,003	0.78	1984–2009

All Matches

Rank	Player	Goals	Matches	Ratio	Career span
1	Lajos Tichy	1,917	1,307	1.47	1952–1971
2	Josef Bican	1,813+	1,089	1.66	1930–1957
3	Erwin Helmchen	1,611+	939	1.72	1924–1951
4	Ferenc Puskás	1,569+	1,270	1.24	1943–1967
5	Gerd Müller	1,483	1,228	1.21	1963–1981
6	Ferenc Bene	1,424+	1,481	0.96	1959–1985
7	Ferenc Deák	1,374+	839	1.64	1939–1959
8	Pelé	1,324	1,413	0.94	1956–1977
9	József Takács	1,218+	943	1.29	1920–1940
10	Franz Binder	1,202+	833	1.44	1927–1949

• Association of Football Statisticians
• IFFHS

• Official website