Cristiano Ronaldo might become the first player in history to win the Golden Boot in all four leagues this season.
The Portuguese scored a hat-trick in Al-Nassr’s 5-1 victory against Al Taee on Saturday, raising his total to 26 goals in 23 Saudi Pro League games this season.
With nine league matches remaining, Ronaldo is four goals ahead of Aleksandar Mitrovic in the race for the Saudi Pro League’s top goalscorer this season.
With the former Fulham striker ruled out for up to six weeks on Monday due to a hamstring injury, Ronaldo is nearly guaranteed to win the Pro League Golden Boot.
If he does, the former Manchester United and Real Madrid great will become the first player in history to lead the goalscoring charts in four different leagues.
Ronaldo earned the Premier League Golden Boot in 2007-08, scoring 31 goals in 34 games for United.
He then won the Pichichi Trophy, the prize for the highest striker in LaLiga, three times with Real Madrid, scoring 40 goals in 34 games in the 2010-11 season.
The 39-year-old finished first in the 2013-14 season, scoring 31 goals in 30 games, and he scored an incredible 48 goals in 35 games the following season.
Ronaldo was as prolific in Italy, winning the Paolo Rossi Award as Serie A’s top goalscorer in 2020-21, with 29 league goals.
Luis Suarez and Ruud Van Nistelrooy, along with Ronaldo, are the only players to have won the Golden Boot in all three European leagues.
Suarez won the award while playing for Ajax in the Eredivisie in 2009-10, Liverpool in the Premier League in 2013-14, and Barcelona in 2015-16.
Van Nistelrooy won the Golden Boot in all three divisions, including the Eredivise with PSV Eindhoven in 1998-99 and again the following season.
The Dutchman earned the Premier League Golden Boot in 2002-03 and was LaLiga’s leading goal scorer in 2006-07.
Robert Lewandowski won the Pichichi Trophy last season after winning the Bundesliga Golden Boot seven times – twice for Borussia Dortmund and five for Bayern Munich – and in the Polish top flight in 2009-10.
Romario led the goal scoring charts in Holland for PSV Eindhoven for three consecutive seasons from 1988 to 1990, in LaLiga in 1993-94, and in Brazil in 2005.
Meanwhile, Alfredo di Stefano was the top scorer in Argentina in 1947, Colombia in 1951 and 1952, and LaLiga five times between 1954 and 1959.
More recently, Seydou Doumbia accomplished the feat in the Ivory Coast’s top division in 2005, the Swiss Super League in 2009 and 2010, and the Russian Premier League in 2012 and 2014.