Legendary records: the players with the most World Cup matches
Lionel Messi holds the record for most World Cup matches, 26, after passing Lothar Matthäus in 2022; the German had held it for over two decades with 25. Klose and Maldini complete the list of the eternals.
Reaching a World Cup is already hard; playing in many, and in many matches, is within reach of very few. The all-time record for matches played at finals belongs to Lionel Messi, who reached 26 games in the 2022 final, the one Argentina won against France, surpassing a mark that had seemed eternal.
Because for more than twenty years that record belonged to Germany's Lothar Matthäus, who amassed 25 matches across five World Cups between 1982 and 1998. Matthäus was world champion in 1990 as the leader of West Germany and a runner-up in 1982 and 1986, and his consistency made him the benchmark everyone chased.
Next on the list of those who have played the most come two monuments: German scorer Miroslav Klose, with 24 matches and a champion in 2014, and Italian defender Paolo Maldini, with 23 and a runner-up in 1994. All of them are around or above twenty games and several finals.
Playing five World Cups is another feat reserved for a chosen few. Mexico's Antonio Carbajal was the pioneer, and over time he has been joined by names like Matthäus, Rafael Márquez, Gianluigi Buffon, Messi himself and Cristiano Ronaldo, who have stretched their careers across two decades.
Behind every record lies a story of perseverance: that of footballers able to stay in the world elite for fifteen or twenty years. In a tournament played every four, that endurance is perhaps the hardest merit of all.
Source: Wikipedia (Lionel Messi; Lothar Matthäus; FIFA World Cup records and statistics).