Category profile
- Dominance
- 78
- Peak
- 90
- Longevity
- 84
- Honours
- 82
- Statistics
- 88
Career timeline · Goals per season
| Season | Goals per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1978 | 50 | |
| 1979 | 55 | |
| 1980 | 60 | |
| 1981 | 65 | |
| 1982 | 70 | |
| 1983 | 76 | |
| 1984 | 81 | |
| 1985 | 86 | |
| 1986 | 91 | |
| 1987 | 96 | |
| 1988 | 89 | |
| 1989 | 83 | |
| 1990 | 76 | |
| 1991 | 70 | |
| 1992 | 63 | |
| 1993 | 56 | |
| 1994 | 50 | |
| 1995 | 43 | |
| 1996 | 37 | |
| 1997 | 30 |
Data sources
- FIFA official records
- UEFA competition archives
- National federation and club records
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Careca ranks #258 in Football
Careca ranks 258th among Football athletes on GOAT Rank and 571st of 4013 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 83.9 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 78, Peak 90, Longevity 84, Honours 82, Statistics 88. Those categories are normalised against the full Football reference universe of 895 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.
The record covers 1978–1997 with 20 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1987, which sets the Peak component at 90. Peak is the defining strength of the profile at 90 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes uefa cup titles 1, serie a titles 1, brazil goals 29, career goals 350.
Immediately ahead sits Gary Lineker on 83.9, a gap of 0.0 points. Directly behind is Edinson Cavani on 83.8. The position moves whenever the verified record moves: new titles, new seasons or a corrected source all feed straight back into the same formula, and every change is dated on this profile.
Careca GOAT Score explained
- Dominance78/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Careca stood above the field while competing. Scored 78/100 against the full Football cohort.
- Peak90/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1987. Scored 90/100.
- Longevity84/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 19 years of competition and 20 recorded seasons. Scored 84/100.
- Honours82/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 82/100.
- Statistics88/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 88/100.
Top Careca comparisons
Careca — frequently asked
- Is Careca the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Careca ranks 258th in Football with a GOAT Score of 83.9, behind Lionel Messi on 97.0.
- What is Careca's GOAT Score?
- 83.9 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 78 (25%), Peak 90 (20%), Longevity 84 (20%), Honours 82 (20%), Statistics 88 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Careca rank all time?
- 571st of 4013 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 258th within Football.
- Careca vs Gary Lineker: who ranks higher?
- Careca, on 83.9 against Gary Lineker's 83.9 — a margin of 0.0 points.