Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have extended their place at the top of FIFA’s list of players who have featured in the most editions of the men’s World Cup.
FIFA, in a list published on Monday, August 17, 2026, ranked players according to the number of World Cup tournaments in which they have appeared.
Ronaldo and Messi occupy the top spot jointly after each featuring in six editions of the tournament, including the 2026 World Cup co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The Portuguese and Argentine superstars are followed by seven players who have participated in five World Cup editions.
The group includes Mexico’s Antonio Carbajal, Andrés Guardado and Rafael Márquez, Germany’s Lothar Matthäus and Manuel Neuer, Croatia captain Luka Modrić, and Japan’s Yuto Nagatomo.
FIFA’s ranking also lists 60 players who have appeared at four World Cups, reflecting the remarkable longevity of some of the game’s biggest names.
Among those in the four-tournament group are Brazil legends Pelé and Cafu, Argentina greats Diego Maradona, Ángel Di María and Javier Mascherano, as well as Spain’s Xavi, Andrés Iniesta and Iker Casillas.
Other prominent names on the list include France’s Thierry Henry and Hugo Lloris, Germany’s Miroslav Klose and Thomas Müller, Italy’s Gianluigi Buffon and Paolo Maldini, Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o and Rigobert Song, and Uruguay’s Luis Suárez and Diego Godín.
England’s Jordan Henderson and Belgium’s Kevin De Bruyne are also among the players credited with four World Cup appearances.
Ronaldo and Messi’s six-tournament milestone further underlines their extraordinary international careers, with both players extending their records at the 2026 edition.
The FIFA list, titled “Men playing in the most World Cups,” brings together generations of players whose careers have spanned multiple World Cup cycles.
The ranking highlights not only the dominance of Ronaldo and Messi but also the exceptional consistency required to remain at international level across four or five tournament editions.
Players with the most World Cup appearances
Six World Cups
Cristiano Ronaldo – Portugal
Lionel Messi – Argentina
Five World Cups
Antonio Carbajal – Mexico
Andrés Guardado – Mexico
Rafael Márquez – Mexico
Lothar Matthäus – Germany
Luka Modrić – Croatia
Yuto Nagatomo – Japan
Manuel Neuer – Germany
Four World Cups
The four-appearance group includes Sami Al-Jaber, DaMarcus Beasley, Valon Behrami, Giuseppe Bergomi, Gianluigi Buffon, Sergio Busquets, Martín Cáceres, Cafu, Tim Cahill, Denis Caniza, Fabio Cannavaro, Iker Casillas, Edinson Cavani, Thibaut Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne, Ángel Di María, Samuel Eto’o, Djalma Santos, Diego Godín, Ehsan Hajsafi, Jordan Henderson, Thierry Henry, Hong Myung-bo, Andrés Iniesta, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Raúl Jiménez, Miroslav Klose, Mateo Kovačić, Mathew Leckie, Hugo Lloris, Romelu Lukaku, Paolo Maldini, Diego Maradona, Javier Mascherano, Héctor Moreno, Thomas Müller, Fernando Muslera, Neymar, Nicolás Otamendi, Pelé, Pepe, Ivan Perišić, Sergio Ramos, Gianni Rivera, Pedro Rocha, Ricardo Rodríguez, Mathew Ryan, Karl-Heinz Schnellinger, Enzo Scifo, Uwe Seeler, Xherdan Shaqiri, Rigobert Song, Son Heung-min, Luis Suárez, Franky Van der Elst, Axel Witsel, Xavi, Granit Xhaka, Władysław Żmuda and Andoni Zubizarreta.
With Ronaldo and Messi now alone at the summit, the 2026 tournament has further strengthened their status as the most enduring players in World Cup history.