Cristiano Ronaldo equals international goalscoring record – how does he compare?

Cristiano Ronaldo equalled the goalscoring record in men’s international football as his brace in Portugal’s Euro 2020 draw with France took him to 109 goals.

Ronaldo was already one of only two men with a century of goals to his name and now sits alongside Iran’s Ali Daei atop the all-time list.

Here, the PA news agency takes a statistical look at the Portugal star’s scoring record.

How he compares

Ronaldo’s first 50 goals came in 114 caps, with 59 in 64 since including his second half-century at a goal a game. His total of 178 games to reach his record total compares to 149 for Daei.

Daei congratulated Ronaldo on Instagram, saying he is “honoured” that his record will pass to a “great champion of football”.

The pair are a long way clear of the next players on the all-time list – historical data can be patchy but the reputable Rec Sports Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) lists former Malaysia international Mohammed Mokhtar Dahari in third place on 89, followed by Hungary great Ferenc Puskas on 84.

Godfrey Chitalu follows with 79 for Zambia, one more than Hussein Saeed Mohammed for Iraq, with Pele next on 77 for Brazil and Ali Mabhkout with 76 for the United Arab Emirates as different nations’ respective opposition makes for an unusual list.

The RSSSF lists Sandor Kocsis, Puskas’ long-term team-mate in the ‘Magical Magyars’ line-up of the 1950s, on 75 alongside Kunishige Kamamoto of Japan and Kuwait’s Bashar Abdullah. Ronaldo’s long-term rival Lionel Messi is 13th with 73 goals in 145 Argentina caps.

Competitions

Portugal’s qualification campaigns for World Cups and European Championships have accounted for over half of Ronaldo’s goals, with 31 in Euro qualifiers and the same number in World Cup preliminaries after netting against Luxembourg in March.

He has 14 in European Championship finals tournaments, including three as Portugal won the 2016 tournament in France and five in this summer’s group stage.

His hat-trick against Spain helped him to four at the 2018 World Cup and seven in total in his appearances at the tournament, after his three previous World Cups brought him just one goal apiece – against Iran in 2006, North Korea in 2010 and Ghana in 2014.

Ronaldo has five in two Nations League campaigns and scored twice at 2017’s Confederations Cup, with his remaining 19 international goals coming in friendlies.

Opponents

Lithuania and Sweden have been on the receiving end of most Ronaldo goals – seven, after he scored four times against Lithuania in Vilnius and three in the return in Faro during Euro 2020 qualifying.

He has six against Luxembourg, Hungary and Andorra and five each against Latvia, Armenia and Sweden and has scored against 44 different international opponents in all, having added Germany and France to that list in the last week.

His total against Andorra also includes a four-goal performance, in qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, while he has further hat-tricks against Northern Ireland, Sweden, Armenia, the Faroe Islands, Spain and Switzerland and has scored twice in a match against Hungary on three separate occasions.

Other than that treble against Northern Ireland in qualification for the 2014 World Cup, his only goal against the home nations came against Wales at Euro 2016.