Who has made the most FIFA World Cup appearances?
by Alex Sarwar ·
Updated
The FIFA World Cup is notorious for the longevity of many players fortunate enough to play in the tournament. Longevity is an understated quality among professional footballers and any player to have accumulated a large number of appearances in the biggest tournament in world football deserves significant credit.
With that in mind, we take a look at which players have made the most appearances in men's FIFA World Cup history:
WORLD CUP APPEARANCES | PLAYER | NATION |
|---|---|---|
34 | Lionel Messi | Argentina |
27 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Portugal |
25 | Lothar Matthaus | Germany |
24 | Miroslav Klose | Germany |
23 | Paolo Maldini | Italy |
23 | Luka Modric | Croatia |
23 | Manuel Neuer | Germany |
22 | Kylian Mbappe | France |
21 | Thibaut Courtois | Belgium |
21 | Diego Maradona | Argentina |
21 | Nicolas Otamendi | Argentina |
21 | Ivan Perisic | Croatia |
21 | Uwe Seeler | West Germany |
21 | Wladyslaw Zmuda | Poland |
20 | Cafu | Brazil |
20 | Philipp Lahm | Germany |
20 | Grzegorz Lato | Poland |
20 | Hugo Lloris | France |
20 | Javier Mascherano | Argentina |
20 | Bastian Schweinsteiger | Germany |
Argentina's Lionel Messi has made the most individual appearances in FIFA World Cup history as it stands, playing in over 34 matches at the tournament from his FWC debut in 2006. Long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo, meanwhile, boasts over 27 FIFA World Cup appearances and is second on the list.
Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris made 20 appearances for France across an international career spanning four FIFA World Cups, but he was overtaken in the goalkeeping department by both Manuel Neuer and Thibaut Courtois in the 2026 edition.
