TheCable

The Czech Football Federation (CFF) has claimed that Cristiano Ronaldo is yet to break late Josef Bican’s all-time goalscoring record and will have to score 62 more goals to do so.

On Wednesday, the Juventus superstar was acclaimed as the top scorer in football history after he netted his 760th career goal in the club’s 2-0 win over Napoli at the Italian Super Cup clash.

760 – Cristiano Ronaldo
759 – Josef Bican
757 – Pele
743 – Romario
719 – Lionel Messi

The record-breaking goal for CR7! 📈 pic.twitter.com/kivED5nB10

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— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) January 20, 2021

The Portuguese forward seemingly overtook the previous long-standing record held by Bican, the late Czech-Austrian forward who played from 1931-1955 and died at the age of 88 in 2001.

In a tweet on Thursday, the federation claimed that Ronaldo still needs to score 62 more goals to overtake Bican’s goalscoring record, which it said stood at 821.

“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,” it wrote on Twitter

S tím, jak se Cristiano Ronaldo blíží k Josefu Bicanovi v počtu gólů nastřílených v oficiálních zápasech, se množí dotazy, kolik branek československý kanonýr zaznamenal ⚽️ Odpověď zní 821 branek ✅ pic.twitter.com/gL4BFagNy2

— Česká fotbalová reprezentace (@ceskarepre_cz) January 21, 2021

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The CFF thereafter issued a lengthy statement on its website, claiming that 821 is the “most accurate number possible” when it puts together goals Bican scored throughout his career.

“As Cristiano Ronaldo approaches the legendary Josef Bican in the number of goals scored in official matches, questions are multiplied by how many goals the Czechoslovak gunner has scored,” the statement read.

“The answer is – Josef Bican scored 821 goals in official matches.

“Goals from matches in the first and second leagues, national cups, the Central European Cup and national team selections are included. On the contrary, friendly matches are not included in the statistics, with the exception of the national team.

“The FACR Commission on History and Statistics has decided to shed a brighter light on this case.

“Websites of renowned statisticians, RSSSF and IFFHS, state that Josef Bican has 805 goals in official matches, but they note with one breath that the 1952 year, in which Bican played the second highest competition for Škoda Hradec Králové, is not included.”