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Xavi (middle) with Barcelona teammates Carles Puyol (left) and Lionel Messi (right) in December 2011. On 2 January 2011, in a league match against Levante, Xavi made his 549th appearance for the club in all competitions, matching the record held by Migueli. Xavi later became the player with the most appearances for Barcelona of all time. [44]
Goalkeeper Peter Shilton holds the record for the most competitive appearances. In association football , 52 players have played at least 1,000 official matches at all age levels. Regarding B teams and reserve teams, appearances for such teams are only included if made in the primary football pyramid and not in reserve divisions.
The first player to hit the landmark was Raúl, who did so in February 2006, [2] while the most recent members of the "100 club" are Antoine Griezmann and Koke, who played their 100th match on 26 November 2024. [1] Cristiano Ronaldo has made the most appearances in the Champions League, playing 183 matches. [3]
He scored the only goal in the semi-final with Germany, a powerful header from a corner taken by Barcelona teammate Xavi, which sent the national team through to their first World Cup final. [48] In the final , he featured for the full 120 minutes as the side defeated the Netherlands 1–0 in extra time . [ 49 ]
Following the team's impressive 4–0 victory over FC Barcelona in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final clash on 23 April, he was lauded by many pundits for his all-around display and was credited as the key man in breaking up the tiki-taka football of national teammates Xavi and Andrés Iniesta; [23] in the final game of his ...
Statistics show that in the five years prior to Fàbregas's departure from Arsenal, Fàbregas created 466 goal-scoring chances, made 86 assists and scored 48 goals, all three statistics topping those of new teammates Xavi and Andrés Iniesta, despite both having made more appearances in the same period. [68] [69]
In association football, a cap is traditionally awarded in international football to a player making an official appearance for their national team. This article lists all men's football players who have played in 100 or more official international matches for a national football team according to association football's world governing body FIFA.
Lionel Messi is the player with the most games played at the FIFA World Cup, and one of only six along with German Lothar Matthäus, Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo and Mexicans Antonio Carbajal, Andrés Guardado, and Rafael Márquez to have entered the field in five different tournaments.