The short answer, the exact number, and when it actually happens
No. As of July 2026 Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 976 official senior career goals — 24 short of 1,000. No footballer has ever reached 1,000, so he would be the first.
The 1,000-goal milestone has become one of football's most talked-about numbers, and the hype makes it easy to assume Ronaldo already crossed it. He didn't — but you will find conflicting counts all over the internet. Some sites lump in unofficial friendlies or pre-season tour matches, others quote his tally from months ago, and a few simply round up. The accurate, official figure right now is 976, which leaves him exactly 24 goals away from the milestone.
The number that matters is official senior goals — competitive matches for club and country, no friendlies, tour games, youth or futsal fixtures. You will sometimes see far bigger totals attached to Pelé (often cited at 1,283) or Romário (who claimed "1,000"), but those figures include exactly the kind of unofficial games that don't count under a like-for-like definition. Measured properly, Ronaldo's 976 — 146 for Portugal and 450 of his club goals at Real Madrid alone — is the highest tally football has ever recorded, ahead of Lionel Messi. That is why 1,000 is uncharted territory: it has genuinely never been done.
At his current rate, Ronaldo is projected to score his 1,000th career goal during the 2026/27 season. Even in his 40s he posts 25-40+ goals per campaign for Al Nassr and Portugal, so the final 24 represent only a few months of his normal output. Barring long-term injury, it is a question of when, not if. See the detailed projection and timeline →
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