Erling Haaland turns 26: How does his goalscoring record compare to other great goalscorers such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo?

Despite only just turning 26, Erling Haaland already has a goalscoring record that many strikers would be proud of across an entire career, illustrating just how extraordinary his achievements have been in front of goal.

Whether it was during his breakout at Molde, his rise to prominence at Red Bull Salzburg, his remarkable numbers at Borussia Dortmund or his record-shattering spell at Manchester City, Haaland has scored relentlessly wherever he has been.

The Norwegian striker's numbers span numerous competitions too, whether that be in the domestic league, the Champions League or at international level; he always finds himself near the top of the scoring charts.

On his 26th birthday, Sports Mole looks back at Haaland’s career stats to date, and how they stack up alongside some other modern greats when they hit 26.

Haaland's record at the age of 26:

Starting from his breakout as a full professional at Molde, Haaland has played 312 club matches, netting an astonishing 259 goals across all competitions.

Scoring 20 goals in 50 games for Molde was enough for the Red Bull group to take a punt on Haaland, as he went to Salzburg in the winter of 2019, and in just 12 months in Austria, he plundered another 29 in just 27 matches.

Dortmund were sold, and parted with just under £20m to bring the Norwegian to the Westfalenstadion, where he kept up that staggering feat of averaging virtually a goal every game, with 86 in 89 matches.

Haaland could have chosen any club in world football to move to next in 2022, but he decided to link up with Pep Guardiola and Man City, and that was justified, as the club won the treble, and the striker won the European Golden Shoe, thanks to scoring a record-breaking 36 Premier League goals that year.

The goals have hardly slowed either, as Haaland has scored another 76 in 97 games in the last two seasons, collecting two more Premier League Golden Boots.

Across his career, Haaland has scored 28 hat-tricks, and 12 of them have come for Man City, with eight being in the Premier League, ranking him fourth alongside English football greats Harry Kane, Thierry Henry and Michael Owen

At international level, that trend continues, as Haaland has scored 62 goals in 55 caps for his country, and has finished as the UEFA Nations League’s top scorer twice, being the competition’s all-time record scorer.

Haaland at 26 vs. Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappe, Lewandowski, Kane

Looking at those numbers, it is no surprise that Haaland has the best goals-to-game ratio out of all of the modern-day elite-level attackers.

Even the great Lionel Messi has seen his number of goals before 26 eclipsed by Haaland, with the Norwegian scoring 359 senior career goals across all major club and international competitions to Messi’s 348, doing so in significantly fewer games too.

Kylian Mbappe has been the standout player alongside the Man City man during this era of Haaland dominance, and even his numbers are not at the same level, as he scored 344 times by his 26th birthday.

Cristiano Ronaldo will die by the sword that he is the finest goalscorer football has ever seen, but it is already well documented that his earlier years, in particular at Manchester United, did not produce that many, as he had only notched 213 goals in 471 official games before turning 26.

Haaland’s tally of 359 also blows Robert Lewandowski (222 goals) and Harry Kane (202 goals) out of the water, with the City man needing just two years and three weeks to match the number of Premier League hat tricks Kane managed in a decade at Tottenham Hotspur.

There is one record that Haaland does not have, though, and that is the most Champions League goals scored before the age of 26.

Messi edges that one with 59, but the Barcelona legend did play more matches. To date, the Norwegian has notched a whopping 57 goals in 58 matches in the competition.

Haaland’s tally still eclipses that of the rest too, with Mbappe (50), Ronaldo (26), Lewandowski (17) and Kane (13) all lingering a fair distance back.