IFFHS STATISTICS - THE PLAYERS WITH THE MOST WORLD CUP CAMPAIGNS
Picture : Pat Jennings was the first to play at 6 World Cup editions !
The players with most World Cup campaigns
The maximum number of World Cup editions (including qualifying stage) with participation of the same player is 6. In the whole history of competition, there were 10 players who managed to hold so many campaigns. They are listed here in the table.
The famous Northern-Irish goal-keeper Pat Jennings was the first to achieve this. He has player for his country in every one of World Cup qualifying stages from 1966 to 1986 and appeared in the final stages of the last two of them (1982 and 1986).
On the course of the current World Cup cycle, 4 new players entered this “club”.
The Syrian striker Firas Al Khatib has played his only game in this campaign, his 6th, just before finishing his career in 2019, and the North-Macedonian Goran Pandev also shortly before his retirement.
Two long-serving Andorran, Ildefons Lima and Marc Pujol also joined the list. They are still active players of the national team, so in theory they can yet become the first players in World Cup history taking part in 7 editions.
Gianluigi Buffon, with 6 participations behind, is continuing his club career as well (at the age of 44) but he was not called for Italy during 2022 campaign missing the historical chance to add the 7th.
| PLAYERS WITH MOST | WORLD CUP EDITIONS | (INCLUDING | QUALIFYING STAGE) | |
| Player | Country | Editions | Games (Qual + Fin) | |
| Pat Jennings | Northern Ireland | 6 | 1966(5+0), 1970(4+0), 1974(4+0), 1978(6+0), 1982(6+4), 1986(8+3) | |
| Víctor René Mendieta | Panama | 6 | 1982(3+0), 1986(2+0), 1990(2+0), 1994(2+0), 1998(6+0), 2002(1+0) | |
| Russell Latapy | Trinidad and Tobago | 6 | 1990(9+0), 1994(4+0), 1998(5+0), 2002(12+0), 2006(6+1), 2010(4+0) | |
| Dwight Yorke | Trinidad and Tobago | 6 | 1990(6+0), 1994(4+0), 1998(4+0), 2002(11+0), 2006(12+3), 2010(8+0) | |
| Essam El Hadary | Egypt | 6 | 1998(2+0), 2002(1+0), 2006(4+0), 2010(13+0), 2014(2+0), 2018(5+1) | |
| Gianluigi Buffon | Italy | 6 | 1998(1+0), 2002(5+4), 2006(6+7), 2010(7+1), 2014(8+2), 2018(12+0) | |
| Goran Pandev | North Macedonia | 6 | 2002(1+0), 2006(11+0), 2010(8+0), 2014(8+0), 2018(10+0), 2022(3+0) | |
| Firas Al Khatib | Syria | 6 | 2002(2+0), 2006(3+0), 2010(6+0), 2014(2+0), 2018(6+0), 2022(1+0) | |
| Ildefons Lima | Andorra | 6 | 2002(7+0), 2006(7+0), 2010(8+0), 2014(9+0), 2018(9+0), 2022(3+0) | |
| Marc Pujol | Andorra | 6 | 2002(2+0), 2006(8+0), 2010(7+0), 2014(7+0), 2018(9+0), 2022(8+0) |