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. In total, 628 men's footballers from 114 nationalities have officially played in 100 or more international matches. The record for the most official men's international appearances is currently held by Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal with 217 caps, surpassing Bader Al-Mutawa of Kuwait's previous record total of 196 caps in March 2023.[1] [2] [3]
Prior to Bader Al-Mutawa, the record was held by Soh Chin Ann of Malaysia, with 195 caps. This was only ratified by FIFA in August 2021, despite Soh Chin Ann playing his final game for Malaysia in 1984. In total, Soh Chin Ann has made 219 appearances for Malaysia. This discrepancy is due to FIFA not recognising matches such as those within the Olympic Games and those not categorised as 'A' matches. All 219 appearances made by Soh Chin Ann are recognised by football statistic organisations RSSSF and IFFHS, which both recognise Soh Chin Ann as the record holder for the most international caps.[4] [5] [6]
The first men's footballer to play in 100 official international matches was Billy Wright of England in 1959, however the 100th match is disputed between FIFA and the football governing body for England, the Football Association (FA). FIFA recognise the match against Italy in May 1959 as the official 100th cap, whereas the FA recognise the match prior against Scotland in April 1959 to be the 100th cap. This is due to FIFA not recognising the match against Argentina in May 1953 as official. Wright would finish with 105 international caps.[7] [8]
| Indicates the most-capped player for respective confederation | |||
| bgcolor=#9FC | Indicates the most-capped player for respective nation |
Rank: The order of ranking with regards to international caps is in accordance with FIFA and their records. Records from other sources are not included in the official table, however, those from RSSSF whose cap totals are higher than those of FIFA are mentioned in the footnotes. Players who have achieved 100 or more international caps but are not recognised by FIFA are noted below the table.
Players: Players still active in their national teams are highlighted in bold. Player names are given in preference to their nationalities preference. For example: Icelandic players are sorted by first name, Brazilian, Portuguese, and Spanish players by nickname or first name (if more commonly used), and Chinese and Korean players by family name prefix. Players who have not been used in over two years since their last cap are no longer highlighted in bold. The player however may still be active and eligible for international selection.
Nation: Players represent a nation recognised by FIFA. These can be UN recognised countries, overseas territories or disputed states.
Confederation: Players & their nations are represented by 6 separate continental confederations within FIFA:
AFC: Asian Football Confederation
CAF: Confédération Africaine de Football (English: African Football Confederation)
CONCACAF: Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football
CONMEBOL: Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol – (English: South American Football Confederation)
OFC: Oceania Football Confederation
UEFA: Union des Associations Européennes de Football – (English: Union of European Football Associations)
Debut: States the date in which the player made their first international appearance for their national team.
Latest: States the date in which the player made their last or most recent international appearance for their national team.
| Players | Nation | Confederation |
|---|---|---|
| 18 | CONCACAF | |
| 17 | AFC | |
| AFC | ||
| CONCACAF | ||
| 15 | CAF | |
| UEFA | ||
| AFC | ||
| 14 | / | UEFA |
| AFC | ||
| 13 | AFC | |
| UEFA | ||
| 12 | UEFA | |
| AFC | ||
| 11 | AFC | |
| AFC | ||
| UEFA | ||
| 10 | CONCACAF | |
| UEFA | ||
| UEFA | ||
| AFC | ||
| CONCACAF | ||
| CONMEBOL | ||
| 9 | CONMEBOL | |
| UEFA | ||
| UEFA | ||
| 8 | CONMEBOL | |
| UEFA | ||
| CONMEBOL | ||
| AFC | ||
| AFC | ||
| UEFA | ||
| AFC | ||
| CONMEBOL | ||
| 7 | CONMEBOL | |
| UEFA | ||
| AFC | ||
| UEFA | ||
| CONMEBOL | ||
| UEFA | ||
| UEFA | ||
| UEFA | ||
| 6 | AFC | |
| CONMEBOL | ||
| CONCACAF | ||
| CAF | ||
| 5 | UEFA | |
| CONCACAF | ||
| UEFA | ||
| UEFA | ||
| / | UEFA | |
| UEFA | ||
| AFC | ||
| UEFA | ||
| UEFA | ||
| AFC | ||
| CAF |
| Players | Nation | Confederation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | UEFA | ||
| UEFA | |||
| CAF | |||
| UEFA | |||
| UEFA | |||
| UEFA | |||
| UEFA | |||
| UEFA | |||
| / | UEFA | ||
| CONMEBOL | |||
| 3 | CAF | ||
| UEFA | |||
| CAF | |||
| CONCACAF | |||
| UEFA | |||
| CAF | |||
| UEFA | |||
| UEFA | |||
| 2 | CAF | ||
| OFC / AFC | |||
| CONMEBOL | |||
| UEFA | |||
| CONCACAF | |||
| UEFA | |||
| AFC | |||
| UEFA | |||
| CAF | |||
| CAF | |||
| UEFA | |||
| CONCACAF | |||
| CAF | |||
| 1 | UEFA | ||
| UEFA | |||
| UEFA | |||
| UEFA | |||
| CAF | |||
| CONCACAF | |||
| UEFA | |||
| AFC | |||
| AFC | |||
| AFC | |||
| UEFA | |||
| UEFA | |||
| AFC | |||
| CAF | |||
| UEFA | |||
| CAF | |||
| CAF | |||
| AFC | |||
| AFC | |||
| AFC | |||
| CAF | |||
| UEFA | |||
| CAF | |||
| UEFA | |||
| AFC | |||
| CAF | |||
| CAF | |||
| 628 | 114 | 5 |
| Players | Confederation | Nations | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 251 | UEFA | 49 | |
| 179 | AFC | 26 | |
| 74 | CONCACAF | 10 | |
| 69 | CONMEBOL | 10 | |
| 55 | CAF | 19 | |
| 628 | 5 | 114 |