RSSSF

RSSSF
Available inEnglish
Creators
  • Lars Aarhus
  • Kent Hedlundh
  • Karel Stokkermans
Websitersssf.org Edit this at Wikidata
LaunchedJanuary 1994; 32 years ago (1994-01), as Northern European Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (NERSSSF)
Current statusActive

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.

Website

The RSSSF website contains football-related statistics in the form of lists without commentary and it is maintained by volunteer contributors. 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. According to its founders, this enterprise was created in January 1994 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.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed] In November 2002, the Polish service 90minut.pl became the official branch of RSSSF Poland.

Player of the Year award

Van Basten was the inaugural winner of the award in 1992.

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 Ballon d'Or award. It recognised the best player in the world and was discontinued after the 2005 edition.[non-primary source needed] Brazil's Ronaldinho was the last ever winner, in 2005.

Most Prolific Goalscorers (Top 10)

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.

Official Matches – Top level

RankPlayerGoalsCareer span
1Portugal Cristiano Ronaldo9782002–present
2Argentina Lionel Messi9212003–present
3Brazil Pelé7701956–1977
4Brazil Romário7611984–2009
5Hungary Ferenc Puskás7601943–1967
6AustriaCzechoslovakia Josef Bican7431930–1957
7Poland Robert Lewandowski6972004–present
8Northern Ireland Jimmy Jones6591943–1965
9Netherlands Abe Lenstra6451936–1964
10Germany Gerd Müller6401963–1981

All Matches – Top level

RankPlayerOfficial goals
(top level)		International
friendlies		National friendlies
vs top-league teams
and tournaments		TotalCareer span
1Brazil Pelé7703961081,2741956–1977
2AustriaCzechoslovakia Josef Bican7431951431,0811930–1957
3Portugal Cristiano Ronaldo9784431,0252002–present
4Hungary Ferenc Puskás761179711,0111943–1967

RSSSF currently lists only four players in this table.

Official Matches

RankPlayerGoalsMatchesRatioCareer span
1Portugal Cristiano Ronaldo9941,3660.732002–present
2Germany Erwin Helmchen989+5821.701924–1951
3Argentina Lionel Messi9541,2240.782003–present
4AustriaCzechoslovakia Josef Bican950+6241.521930–1957
5England Ronnie Rooke940+1,0350.911929–1961
6Northern Ireland Jimmy Jones840+7601.111943–1965
7Hungary Ferenc Puskás8027921.011943–1967
8Hungary Ferenc Deák795+5151.541939–1959
9Netherlands Abe Lenstra790+8500.931936–1964
10Brazil Romário7851,0030.781984–2009

All Matches

RankPlayerGoalsMatchesRatioCareer span
1Hungary Lajos Tichy1,9171,3071.471952–1971
2AustriaCzechoslovakia Josef Bican1,813+1,0891.661930–1957
3Germany Erwin Helmchen1,611+9391.721924–1951
4Hungary Ferenc Puskás1,569+1,2701.241943–1967
5Germany Gerd Müller1,4831,2281.211963–1981
6Hungary Ferenc Bene1,424+1,4810.961959–1985
7Hungary Ferenc Deák1,374+8391.641939–1959
8Brazil Pelé1,3241,4130.941956–1977
9Hungary József Takács1,218+9431.291920–1940
10Austria Franz Binder1,202+8331.441927–1949

See also

References

  1. ↑ Finkelstein, Daniel (15 November 2003). "Weighting in vain for Fifa's ranking aficionados". The Times. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  2. ↑ Witzig, Richard (2006). The Global Art of Soccer. New Orleans: CusiBoy Publishing. p. 418. ISBN 0-977-66880-0.
  3. ↑ Loek Groot (25 January 2008). Economics, Uncertainty and European Football: Trends in Competitive Balance. Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-78100-823-2. Archived from the original on 22 January 2023. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  4. ↑ "O stronie". 90minut.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  5. 1 2 "Rec.sport.soccer Player of the Year Award". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  6. ↑ "Prolific Goalscorers". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 16 October 2026.