IFFHS WORLD RANKING FOR PLAYERS WITH MOST GAMES IN XXIst CENTURY - RONALDO 1047
Picture : Ronaldo - Casillas - Alves - the TOP 3 of the XXIst Century
IFFHS World Ranking for Players with Most Games in XXIst Century : CRISTIANO RONALDO 1047
Cristiano Ronaldo is currently the only player in the world to reach 1000 top level games in XXIst Century (1047). Next 7 players have reached 900 games. Among these 8 players, 5 are active (taken in bold) and 3 retired.
One of the retired, Iker Casillas, takes second position with 974 games but will be soon surpassed by Dani Alves who is continuing his career in Brazil and has 969 at the moment.
We have also included in the table below further 10 players who are below 900 games in XXIst but have amassed this sum adding the games played in XXth century, with the condition that significant majority of their games (not less than 65 percent) were held in XXIst. Such players can conditionally be named as “players of XXIst century”.
Petr Cech, Yasuhito Endo and Rogerio Ceni in the Top 10
So, along with main ranking (Total XXI) belonging 8 members we put also an extended parallel ranking Total Career where the mentioned category of players is included as well.
This parallel ranking is led by Rogério Ceni (1214 games) while Cristiano Ronaldo is 5th in it.
For the players who have games in both centuries, those held in XXth are taken in brackets in the particular columns (NL, NC, ICC, NT).
IFFHS WORLD RANKING FOR PLAYERS WITH MOST GAMES IN XXIst CENTURY
| Player | Country | Games | Total | Total | Total | ||||
| NL | NC | ICC | NT | XXI | XX | Career | |||
| 1 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Portugal | 595 | 91 | 191 | 170 | 1047 | 1047 | |
| 2 | Iker Casillas | Spain | 585 (+41) | 57 (+5) | 171 (+22) | 161 (+6) | 974 | 74 | 1048 |
| 3 | Dani Alves | Brazil | 574 | 111 | 166 | 118 | 969 | 969 | |
| 4 | Xavi | Spain | 536 (+51) | 95 (+7) | 174 (+21) | 132 (+1) | 937 | 80 | 1017 |
| 5 | Yasuhito Endō | Japan | 575 (+69) | 116 (+15) | 66 | 152 | 909 | 84 | 993 |
| 6 | Zlatan Ibrahimović | Sweden | 573 (+6) | 72 (+3) | 146 | 116 | 907 | 9 | 916 |
| 7 | Rogério Ceni | Brazil | 675 (+198) | 71 (+67) | 149 (+37) | 9 (+8) | 904 | 310 | 1214 |
| 8 | Lionel Messi | Argentina | 505 | 98 | 157 | 142 | 902 | 902 | |
| Javier Zanetti | Argentina | 449 (+268) | 50 (+28) | 128 (+34) | 90 (+53) | 717 | 383 | 1100 | |
| Gianluigi Buffon | Italy | 524 (+147) | 35 (+15) | 133 (+34) | 160 (+16) | 852 | 212 | 1064 | |
| Raúl | Spain | 454 (+231) | 57 (+20) | 115 (+55) | 62 (+40) | 688 | 346 | 1034 | |
| Frank Lampard | England | 507 (+133) | 105 (+25) | 124 (+10) | 105 (+1) | 841 | 169 | 1010 | |
| Timmy Simons | Belgium | 571 (+82) | 64 (+5) | 116 (+12) | 94 | 845 | 99 | 944 | |
| Oswaldo Sánchez | Mexico | 512 (+213) | 13 (+21) | 57 (+24) | 88 (+11) | 670 | 269 | 939 | |
| Zé Roberto | Brazil | 492 (+148) | 57 (+16) | 121 (+18) | 38 (+46) | 708 | 228 | 936 | |
| Thierry Henry | France | 422 (+174) | 39 (+18) | 96 (+45) | 98 (+25) | 655 | 262 | 917 | |
| Petr Čech | Czech Republic | 552 (+15) | 75 (+1) | 138 (+4) | 124 | 889 | 20 | 909 | |
| Dirk Kuyt | Netherlands | 553 (+77) | 60 (+10) | 99 | 104 | 816 | 87 | 903 |
All games at top senior level are counted (top national divisions, national cups, official international club tournaments, official games between national teams).
Brazilian state championships Paulista and Carioca have status equal to national leagues (according to IFFHS decision).
Period:
from January 1, 2001 to February 20, 2021 (for the ranking Total XXI);
from career start to February 20, 2021 (for the ranking Total Career).
Abbreviatures:
NL – National League
NC – National Cups
ICC – International Club Competitions
NT – National Team