IFFHS NEWS - MESSI TOOK OVER PELE'S RECORD !

• Sep 10, 2021
• IFFHS News

Picture : a new Record for Lionel Messi in South America.

Messi grabs South American record for national team goals

Lionel Messi took over another old record from Pele. For more than 50 years, “O Rei” held the South American record on the goals for a national team (77). On September 9, the Argentine scored a hat-trick in the World Cup qualifying match against Bolivia (3-0) and increased his tally to 79 goals.
In the world ranking, Messi now shares 5th place with Godfrey Chitalu (Zambia).
Also Lionel became the record holder of South America on goals in the World Cup qualifiers (26), beating Luis Suarez (25).

	SOUTH AMERICA's
	ALL-TIME BEST	NATIONAL TEAM	GOAL	SCORERS
	Player	Country	Goals	Period	Games
1	Lionel Messi	Argentina	79	2005-	153
2	Pelé	Brazil	77	1957-1971	92
3	Neymar	Brazil	69	2010-	113
4	Luis Suárez	Uruguay	64	2007-	123
5	Ronaldo	Brazil	62	1994-2011	98
6	Romário	Brazil	55	1987-2005	70
7	Gabriel Batistuta	Argentina	54	1991-2002	77
8	Edinson Cavani	Uruguay	53	2008-	123
9	Zico	Brazil	48	1976-1986	71
10	Alexis Sánchez	Chile	46	2006-	139
11	Sergio Agüero	Argentina	42	2006-	101
12	Eduardo Vargas	Chile	40	2009-	102
13	Bebeto	Brazil	39	1985-1998	73
14	Paolo Guerrero	Peru	39	2004-	106
15	Marcelo Salas	Chile	37	1994-2007	70
16	Diego Forlán	Uruguay	36	2002-2014	112
17	Hernán Crespo	Argentina	35	1995-2007	64
18	Rivaldo	Brazil	35	1993-2003	74
19	Radamel Falcao García	Colombia	35	2007-	94
20	Ivan Zamorano	Chile	34	1987-2001	69
21	Diego Maradona	Argentina	34	1977-1994	91
22	Jairzinho	Brazil	33	1963-1982	81
23	Ronaldinho	Brazil	33	1999-2013	97