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Channel: Before The 'D'...Association Football around the world, 1863-1937.
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                                         Friedenreich with the Brazil team 1925

Arthur Friedenreich had a phenomenal goal scoring record. It is possible that he was the most prolific scorer in the history of the game.
Let's look at the statistics (or the reputed statistics) associated with Fried:
It has been traditionally asserted that he scored 1239 goals in 1329 games. This figure was supposedly the outcome of a contemporary record which was the work of 2 people; Friedenreich's father and his Paulistano team mate Mário de Andrade e Silva.  If we accept that Fried's career lasted from 1909 (when he was 17) until 1935 1329  games would equate to a shade over 49 games a season.  The scoring rate is 0.93 goals per game.
When Andrade died the records that he and Friedenreich Senior had kept were lost.
A journalist named De Vanney firstly accepted these figures as being accurate and then inexplicably reversed them to promote the claim that Fried had scored 1329 goals in 1239 games. This would have represented a strike rate of 1.07 goals per game.
Other figures (based on analysis of contemporary reports) have been 554 goals in 561 games (Alexandre da Costa) and 558 goals in 562 games (Severino Filho).
A detailed season by season record that appears on RSSSF Brazil gives figures of 557 goals in 562 games (acknowledging the absence of reliable records for a number of matches). This gives a strike rate of 0.99 goals per game. 

Looking at this apparently comprehensive record of the matches that Friedenreich played in during his adult life it is hard to imagine where the 767 unrecorded matches (and 682 goals) could have come? There have been suggestions that Andrade might have included scratch matches and Torneio Início Paulista (in which teams would play a number of matches of 20 minutes in one day). Even if this was the case the defecit of 30 matches a season (spread over his entire career) seems excessive. 
I am inclined to believe the RSSSF Brazil figures which whilst not accounting for the 1000+ goals that others claim for Fried, are very impressive indeed:


Year

Team

Matches

Goals


1909

Germânia

1

*


1910   
Ypiranga

2

*


1911

Germânia

13

6*


1912

Mackenzie

11

15

Liga Paulista top scorer
Seleção Brasileira

1

2


Combinado Paulista

2



Combinado Brasileiro

2

1*


1913

Ypiranga

8

5


Americano

5



Combinado Brasileiro

2

1


Seleção Paulista

1



Paulista

1

*


1914

Paulista

2



Atlas

1

1


Ypiranga

12

16

Liga Paulista top scorer
Seleção Paulista

5

3


Ypiranga/Paulistano

1

2


São Bento/Ypiranga

1

2


Seleção Brasileira

4

1


1915

Seleção Paulista

2

2


Ypiranga

12

7


Paysandu

3

*


1916

Paysandu

6

4*


Seleção Paulista

2

3


Paulistano

2



Seleção Brasileira

4

1


1917

Ypiranga

6

14

Liga Paulista top scorer
Flamengo

1



Paulistano

6

1*


Seleção Paulista

4

8


Seleção Brasileira

1

1


1918

Paulistano

15

25

Liga Paulista top scorer
Seleção Paulista

8

14


Seleção Brasileira

1



1919

Paulistano

21

28

Liga Paulista top scorer
Seleção Paulista

1

2


Seleção Brasileira

4

4

Campeonato Sul-Americano top scorer
1920

Seleção Paulista

1

3


Tutu/Miranda

1

1


Paulistano

20

37


1921

Paulistano

22

35

Liga Paulista top scorer
Bela Vista/Consolação

1

1


1922 

Seleção Paulista

5

9


Paulistano

20

20


Seleção Brasileira

2

0


1923

Seleção Paulista

3

2


Paulistano

17

17


Paulistano/Palestra

1

2


Paulistano/Flamengo

1



1924

Paulistano

24

26


1925

Paulistano

23

17


Seleção Paulista

2

3


Seleção Brasileira

4

2


1926 

Paulistano

23

14*


Seleção Paulista

3

1


1927

Paulistano

15

17

Liga Paulista top scorer
Combinado De Brancos

2

2


1928

Seleção Paulista

2

4


Combinado Jacaré

1

*


Paulistano

23

32

Liga Paulista top scorer
Combinado De Brancos

1



1929

Paulistano

24

20

Liga Paulista top scorer
Seleção Paulista

7

6


Internacional

1

1


Atlëtico Santista

1

1


1930

Santos

1



São Paulo

31

32


Seleção Paulista

3

3


São Paulo/Palestra

2

3


Mackenzie Alumni

1



Seleção Brasileira

1

1


1931

São Paulo

26

33


Seleção Paulista

9

9


1932

São Paulo

18

8*


1933

São Paulo

17

4*


Dois De Julho

1

1


1934

São Paulo

26

14


São Paulo/Santos

1

1


1935

São Paulo

6

3


Santos

5

1







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