Explainer | Lee Wai-tong: ‘King of Asian Football’ mentioned with Pele and Ferenc Puskas
- Lee Wai-tong starred with China but turned down Arsenal to play in Hong Kong and Shanghai, then develop the game in the region
- Considered one of Asia’s greatest, ‘Iron Foot’ left his mark with 1,000-plus goals and legendary reputation
Goals wins games, so goes the football adage, and The Guinness Book of World Records gives Pele the crown of being the most prolific goalscorer in history.
More specifically they give the Brazilian the record for “Most career goals (football)” with 1,283 between September 7, 1956 to October 1, 1977, but there are others who can lay claim to the crown.
Josef Bican is rumoured to have scored 1,468 – although he claimed it was closer to 5,000 – but only a handful more have been credited with scoring more than 1,000 in their careers: Franz Binder, Arthur Friedenreich, Gerd Muller, Ferenc Puskas and Ernst Wilimowski.
However, there is another player – once mentioned in the same breath as Pele – who has been forgotten, a man who was known as “The King of Asian Football”.
Lee Wai-tong was said to have scored 1,260 goals, although some claim it may have been closer to 2,000 over the course of a 25-year playing career with a figure of 1,860 often reported.
What is not in doubt is the talent of a player who dominated the region.
