IFFHS ALL TIME RANKING - CRISTIANO RONALDO'S WORLD RECORD

• Jun 12, 2024
• History Statistics

IFFHS all-time ranking for players with most appearances 

Cristiano Ronaldo’s match for Portugal vs Ireland was 1226th in his top-level career. Thus, he edged past Rogério Ceni (1225) and became the new world record holder in number of appearances in top football.
On this occasion, we publish an updated ranking for players with the most matches.
By now, 22 players have reached 1000+ games.

	PLAYERS	WITH	MOST	GAMES
	Player	Games	Country	Period	NL	RL	NC	OC	IP	MI	OI	NT	OS
1	Cristiano Ronaldo	1 226	Portugal	2002-	698		76	25		214	6	207
2	Rogério Ceni	1 225	Brazil	1993-2015	575	307	67	74		185	1	16
3	Peter Shilton	1 217	England	1966-1996	848		87	117		29	8	125	3
4	Fábio	1 182	Brazil	2000-	676	270	105	6		125
5	Roberto Carlos	1 090	Brazil	1991-2015	572	145	61	15		172		125
6	Gianluigi Buffon	1 070	Italy	1995-2013	675		41	11		167		176
7	Ray Clemence	1 069	England	1965-1988	712		81	106		107		61	2
8	Javier Zanetti	1 067	Argentina	1993-2014	682		71	9		162		143
9	Lionel Messi	1 062	Argentina	2004-	596		83	21		175	7	180
10	Dani Alves	1 056	Brazil	2001-2023	597	29	94	38		172		126
11	Iker Casillas	1 048	Spain	1999-2019	626		45	17		193		167
12	Pat Jennings	1 046	Northern Ireland	1963-1986	709		84	75		55	4	119
13	Glenn Ferguson	1 041	Northern Ireland	1987-2011	646		80	266		26	18	5
14	Luka Modrić	1 038	Croatia	2003-	620		60	18		165		175
15	Raúl	1 034	Spain	1994-2015	685		52	25		170		102
16	Paolo Maldini	1 028	Italy	1985-2009	648		72	7		175		126
17	Yasuhito Endō	1 028	Japan	1998-2023	675		51	84		62	4	152
18	Ryan Giggs	1 027	Wales	1990-2014	672		74	55		162		64
19	João Moutinho	1 020	Portugal	2004-	609		64	53		148		146
20	Xavi	1 017	Spain	1998-2019	587		79	23		195		133
21	Noel Bailie	1 013	Northern Ireland	1989-2011	577		87	291		36	22
22	Frank Lampard	1 009	England	1995-2016	640		73	56		134		106

Abbreviatures:
NL = National Leagues (only top divisions), 
RL = Regional Leagues (only top divisions),
NC = National Cup,
OC = other relevant domestic club competitions,
IP = Inter-Provincial competitions, 
MI = major international club competitions, held by FIFA and continental confederations,
OI = other relevant international club competitions, 
NT = National Team (only “full internationals”),
OS = other relevant selections (Inter-League games).