Category profile
- Dominance
- 80
- Peak
- 84
- Longevity
- 88
- Honours
- 86
- Statistics
- 82
Career timeline · Goals per season
| Season | Goals per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 7 | |
| 1995 | 14 | |
| 1996 | 13 | |
| 1997 | 11 | |
| 1998 | 13 | |
| 1999 | 9 | |
| 2000 | 8 | |
| 2001 | 9 | |
| 2002 | 14 | |
| 2003 | 20 | |
| 2004 | 14 | |
| 2005 | 9 | |
| 2006 | 8 | |
| 2007 | 6 | |
| 2008 | 4 | |
| 2009 | 3 | |
| 2010 | 1 | |
| 2011 | 2 |
Data sources
- Premier League
- UEFA
- Transfermarkt
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Paul Scholes ranks #61 in Football
Paul Scholes ranks 61st among Football athletes on GOAT Rank and 244th of 1063 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 83.9 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 80, Peak 84, Longevity 88, Honours 86, Statistics 82. Those categories are normalised against the full Football reference universe of 875 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.
The record covers 1993–2013 with 18 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 2003, which sets the Peak component at 84. Longevity is the defining strength of the profile at 88 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes premier league titles 11, champions league titles 2, career goals 155, appearances 718.
Immediately ahead sits Ronaldinho on 86.6, a gap of 2.7 points. Directly behind is Gunnar Nordahl on 86.6. 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.
Paul Scholes GOAT Score explained
- Dominance80/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Scholes stood above the field while competing. Scored 80/100 against the full Football cohort.
- Peak84/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 2003. Scored 84/100.
- Longevity88/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 20 years of competition and 18 recorded seasons. Scored 88/100.
- Honours86/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 86/100.
- Statistics82/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 82/100.
Top Scholes comparisons
Paul Scholes — frequently asked
- Is Paul Scholes the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Paul Scholes ranks 61st in Football with a GOAT Score of 83.9, behind Cristiano Ronaldo on 95.5.
- What is Paul Scholes's GOAT Score?
- 83.9 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 80 (25%), Peak 84 (20%), Longevity 88 (20%), Honours 86 (20%), Statistics 82 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Paul Scholes rank all time?
- 244th of 1063 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 61st within Football.
- Paul Scholes vs Ronaldinho: who ranks higher?
- Ronaldinho, on 86.6 against Paul Scholes's 83.9 — a margin of 2.7 points.