WORLD CUP RECORDS (Part 22) - THE PLAYER WITH MOST CONSECUTIVE GAMES
Picture : Paolo Maldini played 23 consecutive games with Italy !
Player with most consecutive games: Paolo Maldini
*This ranking is for players which appeared in most consecutive games of their teams at World Cups.
The record belongs to Paolo Maldini: he took part in 23 consecutive games of Italy from 1990 to 2002. The next is Diego Maradona: 21 appearances for Argentina without missing.
*Among active players going to play in Qatar, Lionel Messi (16), Fernando Muslera (16), Cristiano Ronaldo (15) have the longest open series.
| PLAYERS WITH MOST | CONSECUTIVE GAMES | AT | WORLD CUPS | |
| Player | Country | Games | Breakdown | |
| 1 | Paolo Maldini | Italy | 23 | 1990(7), 1994(7), 1998(5), 2002(4) |
| 2 | Diego Maradona | Argentina | 21 | 1982(5), 1986(7), 1990(7), 1994(2) |
| 3 | Władysław Żmuda | Poland | 20 | 1974(7), 1978(6), 1982(7) |
| Grzegorz Lato | Poland | 20 | 1974(7), 1978(6), 1982(7) | |
| 5 | Wolfgang Overath | Germany | 19 | 1966(6), 1970(6), 1974(7) |
| Berti Vogts | Germany | 19 | 1970(6), 1974(7), 1978(6) | |
| Karl-Heinz Rummenigge | Germany | 19 | 1978(5), 1982(7), 1986(7) | |
| Lothar Matthäus | Germany | 19 | 1986(7), 1990(7), 1994(5) | |
| Ronaldo | Brazil | 19 | 1998(7), 2002(7), 2006(5) | |
| 10 | Mario Kempes | Argentina | 18 | 1974(6), 1978(7), 1982(5) |
| Antonio Cabrini | Italy | 18 | 1978(7), 1982(7), 1986(4) | |
| Gaetano Scirea | Italy | 18 | 1978(7), 1982(7), 1986(4) | |
| Dunga | Brazil | 18 | 1990(4), 1994(7), 1998(7) | |
| Cláudio Taffarel | Brazil | 18 | 1990(4), 1994(7), 1998(7) | |
| Rafael Márquez | Mexico | 18 | 2002(4), 2006(4), 2010(4), 2014(4), 2018(2) |