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Cristiano Ronaldo is hurtling toward the magical figure of 1,000 career goals and it seems a case of when, rather than if, the Portugal and Al-Nassr forward takes his tally into four figures. Ronaldo is now at 950 goals, having tallied in Saturday's 2-0 win at Al Hazm. He signed a new two-year contract with Saudi Pro League team Al-Nassr in June, taking him to the end of the 2026-27 season with the Riyadh-based club. Only a lengthy injury could deny the 40-year-old his 1,000th goal during that period. But with Ronaldo still scoring at a rate of almost a goal per game for Al-Nassr, we've crunched the numbers and can now predict (thanks to the help of ESPN's Global Sports Research) that Ronaldo -- injuries aside -- will score his 1,000th goal before the end of 2026, with the former Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus star most likely to do it in late November or early December of 2026. How can we be so certain? Well, there are few things (if any) in football that can be bracketed as sure, but Ronaldo hitting the back of the net for club and country has proved to be one of the most reliable and predictable outcomes since he scored the first of his 950 goals to date as a 17-year-old for Sporting CP in a 3-0 win against Moreirense in Lisbon on Oct 7, 2002. - Cristiano Ronaldo goal tracker: 950 and counting - O'Hanlon: Ranking every team that could win World Cup - Ogden: Meet New Caledonia, the tiny nation two wins from World Cup - Cristiano at 40: Unpacking Ronaldo's stunning career Twenty-three years later, Ronaldo is 39 goals ahead of Lionel Messi as the most prolific men's international scorer with 143 goals -- his most recent additions being both goals in Portugal's 2-1 World Cup qualification victory against Hungary earlier this month -- and few would bet against him reaching another big mark, 150 international goals, during the 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup next summer. Having just signed a new three-year contract with Inter Miami that will tie him to the MLS side until the end of the 2028 season, Messi may also break the 1,000-goal barrier before hanging up his boots. The 38-year-old has 889 career goals for Barcelona, Paris-Saint Germain, Inter Miami and Argentina, but with Ronaldo being 60 goals ahead, does anybody really expect him to call it quits before he beats Messi to the 1,000 mark? The answer to that -- an emphatic no -- is another certainty.
