The world champion Lionel Messi He has played 1,047 games, at club and national level, and is fourth among those who have played the most games so far in the 21st century, a list headed by the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo con 1,204, as announced by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS).
Second place goes to the current Fluminense goalkeeper, Fabio, with 1,202 matches, who also played for Vasco da Gama and Cruzeiro, and third was the Brazilian Daniel Alves with 1056, in Bahía, Seville, Barcelona, Juventus, PSG, San Pablo and Pumas de UNAM.
Messi, 36 years old and having played for Barcelona, Paris Saint Germain. Inter Miami and Argentina total 1,047 matches broken down as follows: 584 local tournaments, 104 National Cups, 179 International Cups and 180 officials in the national team.
Cristiano Ronaldo He is the one who played the most so far in the 21st century with 1,204 games with the jerseys of Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus, Al Nassr and Portugal, with 685 in local tournaments, 98 in National Cups, 216 in International Cups and 205 the selected one.
Four players only reached 1,000 games and 21 players in total played more than 900 games; 17 of them are still active.
The IFFHS also included in the ranking another 11 players who are below 900 matches in the 21st century but who accumulated this mark by adding the games played in the 20th century, with the condition that a significant majority of their games (no less than 65 percent) have still been played in the 21st century. These players can be conditionally considered “21st century players.”
Along with the main ranking (Total XXI), the IFFHS also created an extended parallel ranking Total Career which also includes the aforementioned category of players.
This parallel classification is led by Rogério Ceni (1225 games), while the second placed, Cristiano Ronaldo, should surpass him very soon.
The ranking
1) Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) 1204 and 1204 (games in the 21st century and in his total career)
2) Fabio (Brazil) 1156 and 1202
3) Dani Alves (Brazil) 1056 and 1056
4) Lionel Messi (Argentina) 1047 and 1047
5) Luka Modric (Croatia) 1010 and 1010
6) João Moutinho (Portugal) 997 and 997
7) Iker Casillas (Spain) 974 and 1048
8) Sergio Ramos (Spain) 974 and 974
9) Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden) 953 and 962
10) Andrés Iniesta (Spain) 949 and 949
11) Yasuhito Endo (Japan) 944 and 1028
12) Edin Deko (Bosnia) 940 and 940
13) Luis Suarez (Uruguay) 938 and 938
14) Xavi (Spain) 937y 1017
15) James Milner (England) 929 and 929
16) Pepe Reina (Spain) 926 and 932
17) Ivan Rakiti (Croatia) 920 and 920
18) Alexis Sanchez (Chile) 920 and 920
19 Karim Benzema (France) 917 and 917
20) Rogerio Ceni (Brazil) 905 and 1213
21) Jesús Navas (Spain) 904 and 904
22) Gianluigi Buffon (IItalia) 858 and 1070
23) Javier Zanetti (Argentina) 717 and 1067
24) Raul (Spain) 688 and 1034
25) Frank Lampard (England) 841 and 1009
26) Timmy Simons (Belgium) 845 and 944
27) Oswaldo Sanchez (Mexico) 670 and 939
28) Zé Roberto (Brazil) 708 and 936
29) Roque Santa Cruz (Paraguay) 813 and 932
30) Thierry Henry (France) 655 and 917
31) Petr ech (Czech Republic) 889 and 909
32) Dirk Kuyt (Netherlands) 816 and 903
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
