Czech FA Debunks Ronaldo’s All-time Goal Scorer Claim

Czech FA Debunks Ronaldo’s All-time Goal Scorer Claim

The Czech FA has sensationally claimed Cristiano Ronaldo has not broken the all-time goalscoring record, insisting he needs another 62 goals to overtake Josef Bican in the charts.

Ronaldo scored his 760th career goal in Juventus’ 2-0 Italian Super Cup win against Napoli on Wednesday night, leading many to believe he had surpassed Bican’s tally of 759.

However, less than 24 hours after Ronaldo thought he had become the outright leader, the Czech FA have refuted the claim and conveniently found a season in the record books that they had missed when calculating Bican’s total haul.

A tweet published by the Czech FA dismissed Ronaldo’s claim to the No 1 spot, writing: “The History and Statistics committee of the Czech FA counted all the goals scored by the legendary Josef Bican and we can declare he scored 821 goals in official matches.”

That would leave Ronaldo 61 short of Bican and 62 short of the outright lead.

Offering more information, the Czech FA’s head of committee, Jaroslav Kolar, said: “Who is the best goalscorer in football history? Josef Bican or Cristiano Ronaldo? Simple question but complicated answer.

“Mainly because from the whole amount of Bican’s goals you have to pick just the official ones, which is complicated. Our history and statistics committee of Czech FA started to deal with this problem.

“We based our research on statistics from prestigious international statistical websites that state 805 goals with notice that goals scored by Bican in 1952 in the Czech second division for Hradec Kralove are missing.

“We managed to find them – 53 goals in 26 games – and we also double-checked every detail about Bican’s league, cup and international matches.

“After that we came out with the official number of Bican’s scored goals. On behalf of the history and statistics committee of Czech FA, we can proclaim that Josef Bican scored 821 goals in official matches.

“It means that Cristiano Ronaldo is not the best goalscorer in history yet, and he has to work more to break this record.”

Bican was a prolific goalscorer during his career between the 1930s and 1950s, scoring most of his goals for Slavia Prague between 1938 and 1948.

He also featured on the international stage for three different countries, after playing for Austria between 1933 and 1936, Czechoslovakia from 1938 and 1949, and a single game for Bohemia and Moravia in 1939.

He helped Austria reach the semi-finals of the 1934 World Cup, and netted 534 goals in just 274 official fixtures for Slavia Prague during a nine-year spell.

The title of football’s all-time top goalscorer is heavily contested and world governing body FIFA does not keep an official record.

Brazilian strikers Pele and Romario scored in excess of 1,000 goals during their careers, but those statistics include strikes in amateur, unofficial and friendly matches.

On January 3, Ronaldo moved above three-time Brazil World Cup winner Pele into second on the list following a brace in a 4-1 Serie A home win over Udinese.

That placed him on 758 career goals and he equalled Bican’s feat with an injury-time right-footed strike during Juve’s 3-1 a home win over 10-man Sassuolo in Serie A on January 10.

Ronaldo then moved onto 760 this week with a thumping left-footed finish that helped Juventus win another piece of domestic silverware.

It was his 85th Juve goal, added to five for Sporting Lisbon, 118 for Manchester United, 450 for Real Madrid and 102 for Portugal.

Only rival Lionel Messi looks capable of surpassing his record at present with the Barcelona and Argentina superstar on 715 career goals for club and country.

Messi has also played just under 150 games fewer so far and, being two years Ronaldo’s junior, has time on his side.

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