Nineteen. That is how many goals separate Cristiano Ronaldo from a number no professional footballer has ever hit. The 41-year-old reached 981 in Al Nassr’s 3-1 win over Neftchi Fergana on Monday, a matchday-two tie in the AFC Champions League Elite.
Sadio Mané crossed, Ayman Yahya controlled, and Ronaldo steered the ball home before half-time. Ângelo Gabriel had opened the scoring earlier in the first half, Alisher Odilov pulled one back for the visitors after the break, and an own goal late on sealed the win for Ange Postecoglou’s side.
Six shirts, 981 goals
Ronaldo’s senior tally is spread across six shirts. The full breakdown confirmed by IBTimes UK reads:
- Real Madrid: 450
- Portugal: 146
- Manchester United: 145
- Al Nassr: 134
- Juventus: 101
- Sporting CP: 5
The 981 goals have come across 1,336 official matches for club and country. Only two players in the recognised historical record, Josef Bican and Pelé, are ever named in the same conversation, and both of those tallies rest on partial match registers from eras long before standardised data.
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Al Nassr the launch pad
Al Nassr, who signed Ronaldo in January 2023, is where the final push will play out. To reach 1,000 goals before the end of 2026 he would need 19 more inside his remaining appearances this calendar year, a rate even his best Real Madrid seasons rarely sustained. A landing inside the 2026/27 campaign is the more realistic target.
Postecoglou, appointed by Al Nassr earlier this year, inherits a squad built around keeping that scoring machine fed, with Mané among the attacking names lining up behind the man chasing the number.
Al Nassr’s next fixture is in the Saudi Pro League, where Ronaldo will have his next shot at closing the gap.
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