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.
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 |