Cristiano Ronaldo was honored by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) as the player with the most appearances in the 21st century (from 2001 to present), with 1,204 matches at club and national team level.
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| Cristiano Ronaldo is currently the captain of Al Nassr. (Source: Getty Images) |
IFFHS has officially announced the list of players with the most appearances in the 21st century (up to now).
According to the IFFHS list, Cristiano Ronaldo is the player with the most appearances in the 21st century.
The Portuguese superstar has made a total of 1,204 appearances at both club and international level.
Specifically, Ronaldo played 685 matches in the national championship, 98 matches in the national cup, 216 matches in the continental cup and 205 matches for the Portuguese team. On average, Ronaldo played 52 matches per year and maintained this performance for 23 consecutive years.
With his current form, Cristiano Ronaldo can completely surpass legendary goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni (1,225 matches) to become the player with the most appearances in world football history.
Ronaldo's appearance record is made even more impressive by the number of goals he has scored in his career.
According to statistics, Ronaldo is the greatest goalscorer in the history of world football with 873 goals since his professional career.
Ronaldo's 873 goals were scored for Real Madrid (450 goals), Manchester United (145 goals), Juventus (101 goals), Al Nassr (44 goals), Sporting CP (5 goals) and 128 times for the Portuguese national team.
In 2023 alone, this 1985-born star scored 54 goals, 44 goals for Al Nassr and 10 goals for the Portuguese national team.
Ronaldo's impressive scoring record has also been honored by the IFFHS as the best goalscorer of 2023, 2 goals more than Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe. However, the organization has left him out of the best team to make way for Kane, Haaland and Mbappe.
Following Ronaldo on the list is Fabio - a Brazilian goalkeeper who plays for Fluminense Club. Fabio has played a total of 1,156 matches over the past 20 years.
Dani Alves ranks 3rd with 1,056 appearances for Bahia, Sevilla, Barcelona, Juventus, PSG, Sao Paulo, UNAM Pumas and the Brazil national team.
Meanwhile, Argentine star Lionel Messi is only ranked 4th with 1,047 appearances in his career.
The 2022 World Cup winner has played for Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Miami and Argentina. He has played 584 league games, 104 cup games, 179 continental games and 180 international games for Argentina.
In addition to the four names mentioned above, the top 10 players with the most appearances in the 21st century also include Luka Modric (Croatia, 1,010 matches), Joao Moutinho (Portugal, 997), Iker Casillas (Spain, 974), Sergio Ramos (Spain, 974), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden, 953) and Andres Iniesta (Spain, 949).
In addition to being honored for his number of appearances and goals, Cristiano Ronaldo was recently honored by IFFHS for the category of player breaking the most records in 2023.
According to IFFHS, Ronaldo is the one who has achieved the most records with 4 times (out of a total of 23 records).
Specifically, in March 2023, Ronaldo surpassed Jari Litmanen and Robbie Keane to become the player who scored in the most Euro tournaments with 6 tournaments (including qualifying and final round). The Portuguese superstar has scored in all Euro tournaments since 2004.
Also in March, Ronaldo surpassed Bader Al-Mutawa (Kuwait, 196 matches) to become the player with the most matches for the national team.
CR7 also broke the scoring record of legendary Ferenc Puskas in August 2023. Ronaldo has now scored 531 goals in national championships, far surpassing Ferenc Puskas' record of 526 goals.
Not only that, Cristiano Ronaldo also surpassed Sergio Ramos to become the player with the most wins in EURO qualifiers (32 wins).
Ranking of 10 players with most matches in the 21st century: 1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) - 1,204 2. Fabio (Brazil) - 1,156 3. Dani Alves (Brazil) - 1,056 4. Lionel Messi (Argentina) - 1,047 5. Luka Modric (Croatia) - 1,010 6. Joao Moutinho (Portugal) - 997 7. Iker Casillas (Spain) - 974 8. Sergio Ramos (Spain) - 974 9. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden) - 953 10. Andrés Iniesta (Spain) - 949. |
( according to Vietnam+ )
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