Cristiano Ronaldo holds the world record for official national team appearances with 228 and goals scored with 143. In one specific category, international goals scored after turning 30, he leaves Lionel Messi and the rest of the field far behind.
According to international football data, the Al-Nassr star is by a wide margin the top scorer in international football after entering his 30s. Curiously, Ronaldo has found the net far more often after turning 30 than in the first half of his professional career, with 91 post-30 international goals compared with 52 before 30.
Although his overall lead over Messi is already clear, the gap becomes striking when looking at goals scored after age 30. The Argentina captain only managed to surpass his own pre-30 international goal tally last week, when he found the net against Iceland. Messi now has 59 goals after 30 and 58 before 30. He does not even rank second on this historical list, having been overtaken by a legend of Asian football.
Here are the top 15 national-team scorers after the age of 30:
- Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal): 91 goals (52 before 30)
- Ali Daei (Iran): 63 goals (47 before 30)
- Lionel Messi (Argentina): 59 goals (58 before 30)
- Sunil Chhetri (India): 52 goals (37 before 30)
- Olivier Giroud (France): 36 goals (21 before 30)
- Jan Koller (Czech Republic): 34 goals (21 before 30)
- Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden): 34 goals (28 before 30)
- Robert Lewandowski (Poland): 34 goals (55 before 30)
- Romário (Brazil): 33 goals (22 before 30)
- Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast): 32 goals (31 before 30)
- Miroslav Klose (Germany): 32 goals (39 before 30)
- Tim Cahill (Australia): 31 goals (18 before 30)
- Mehdi Taremi (Iran): 31 goals (27 before 30)
- Eran Zahavi (Israel): 29 goals (6 before 30)
- Edin Dzeko (Bosnia): 28 goals (45 before 30)
Ali Daei sits second with 63 post-30 international goals, while Sunil Chhetri ranks fourth with 52. Olivier Giroud is fifth with 36, followed by Jan Koller, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Robert Lewandowski tied on 34 goals each in sixth, seventh, and eighth place.
Elsewhere this week, an error by Brazilian goalkeeper Bento prevented Al-Nassr from winning the Saudi League title on Tuesday. Ronaldo's side was leading 1-0 until the 53rd minute of the second half before Bento's mistake changed the outcome.
