Coming round once every four years, even the greatest footballers of all time don\u2019t amass a huge number of World Cup appearances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A poorly-timed injury can take a player out of a tournament, and misfortune in a crucial match can limit the opportunities to add more appearances to the tally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These players had both longevity and the benefit of playing on some competitive teams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A tally of 25 appearances has Lothar Matth\u00e4us top of this list, just ahead of his compatriot Miroslav Klose, who holds the record for the most World Cup goals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Matth\u00e4us played in every World Cup from 1982 to 1998, finishing as a runner-up in 1982 and 1986 before lifting the trophy in 1990. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the World Cup win, Matth\u00e4us won the Ballon d\u2019Or, and was awarded the Silver Ball at the tournament itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Operating as a sweeper by the time the 1994 World Cup took place, Matth\u00e4us was a surprise call up for 1998, replacing the injured Matthias Sammer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the greatest defenders in the history of the sport, Paolo Maldini\u2019s 23 World Cup appearances are five more than any other Italian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Milan icon appeared in the 1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002 World Cups, and was named to the World Cup All-Star Team in 1990 and 1994.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Il Capitano won it all at club level, but he sadly never got his hands on the big prize in international football, with his career falling between Italy\u2019s triumphs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The closest Maldini came to a winners\u2019 medal was the heart-breaking shootout loss to Brazil in the 1994 final. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A lone outing ahead of Javier Mascherano and two ahead of Lionel Messi, it is fitting that Diego Maradona is Argentina\u2019s appearance leader at World Cups (for now, at least).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
El Pibe de Oro appeared in all four tournaments from 1982 to 1994, winning the competition in 1986, and being awarded the Golden Ball for putting his country on his back<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maradona is the greatest player of all-time to many. His World Cup legacy is the foundation of that status, though he was also centre to one of the World Cup\u2019s most controversial moments with his \u2018Hand Of God\u2019 against England. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The late Maradona was named to the World Cup All-Star Team when they won the tournament in 1986, and when Argentina were runners-up four years later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Far from the most recognisable name on this list, <\/strong>W\u0142adys\u0142aw \u017bmuda appeared in the 1974, 1978, 1982 and 1986 World Cups for Poland, with the Bia\u0142o-czerwoni finishing in third place in the first and third of those tournaments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u017bmuda was the tournament\u2019s Best Young Player in 1974. He isn\u2019t the only Pole near the top of the appearance charts either, with Grzegorz Lato accumulating 20 (Lato appeared in the same four tournaments as \u017bmuda). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Just nudging out Ronaldo on 19 and Dunga on 18, Cafu is Brazil\u2019s World Cup appearance leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A decorated player at club level, Cafu also collected hardware with Brazil, becoming the only player to appear in three World Cup finals between 1994 and 2002. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, Brazil won the first and last of those finals, and Cafu was named as a World Cup All-Star Team reserve in 2002. Renowned as a leader while being remarkably durable, Cafu is among the greatest at his position in modern history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Rafael M\u00e1rquez, alongside Matth\u00e4us and fellow Mexican Antonio Carbajal, is one of three players to appear at five World Cups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The former Barcelona defender has featured at all of the World Cups since the turn of the century, and made his last professional appearance in Russia four years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In each of M\u00e1rquez\u2019s World Cup ventures, Mexico were eliminated in the last 16, which has limited his appearance total. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On 17 appearances, Fabien Barthez and Thierry Henry just edge out fellow 1998 World Cup winner Lilian Thuram. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Barthez played in 1998, 2002 and 2006, while Henry also appeared in 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, their greatest moment was the 1998 final win over Brazil, but they also both suffered the heartache of the 2006 penalty shootout loss in the final to Italy following Zinedine Zidane\u2019s headbutt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Barthez won the Yashin Award in 1998. Henry\u2019s peak came later, as he was named to the 2006 World Cup All-Star Team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Spain had been known as World Cup underachievers until they lifted the trophy in 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos were part of the spine of that team, though Casillas had appeared in the two prior tournaments. Both featured in 2014, and Ramos played in the last-16 exit in Russia four years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The pair were among the elite at their positions throughout their international careers, and each earned spots in the 2010 World Cup Dream Team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Barring injury, Cristiano Ronaldo will join the small club of players to play in five World Cups this winter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ronaldo is the only Portuguese player with more than 11 World Cup appearances, having featured in every tournament since 2006. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The five-time Ballon d\u2019Or winner scored a lone goal in his first three World Cups. Four more followed in 2018, including a spectacular hat-trick against Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A fourth-place finish in 2006 was the only time Ronaldo has made it past the last 16. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Prior to Belgium\u2019s recent Golden Generation, De Rode Duivels qualified for six straight World Cups between 1982 and 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Enzo Scifo appeared in four of those. His first appearances came in 1986 when Belgium reached the semi-finals for the first time ever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Two other Belgians — Jan Ceulemans and Franky Van der Elst \u2013 have made 16 appearances. Thibaut Courtois (currently on 12) could tie or surpass Scifo if Roberto Martinez\u2019s team go on a deep run this winter. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Peter Shilton played in the 1982, 1986 and 1990 World Cups for England. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Shilton has made three more World Cup appearances than any other Three Lions player, and was part of the team which made the semi-finals at Italia \u201990. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Leicester native had his greatest individual moment against Cameroon in 1990, pulling off a stunning save against Francois Omam-Biyik.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most will remember his World Cup career for being the goalkeeper in the immortal images of Diego Maradona\u2019s \u2018Hand Of God\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Each a couple ahead of Dirk Kuyt, Wesley Sneijder and Robin van Persie made 17 World Cup appearances across the 2006, 2010 and 2014 tournaments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Knocked out by Portugal in Germany, the Dutch were far more competitive four years later, with Sneijder winning the tournament\u2019s Silver Ball as the Oranje lost a controversial final to Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Brazil in 2014, it was another gutting elimination when the Netherlands lost a semi-final penalty shootout to Argentina with Sneijder missing his kick from 12 yards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Van Persie finished his World Cup career with six goals (joint-second most for the Netherlands). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Coming round once every four years, even the greatest footballers of all time don\u2019t amass a huge number of World Cup appearances. A poorly-timed injury can take a player out of a tournament, and misfortune in a crucial match can limit the opportunities to add more appearances to the tally. These players had both longevity…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":28074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[638],"tags":[643],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2577"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28496,"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2577\/revisions\/28496"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betting.com\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Cafu (Brazil) \u2013 20 appearances<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Rafael M\u00e1rquez (Mexico) \u2013 19 appearances<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Fabien Barthez & Thierry Henry (France) \u2013 17 appearances<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Iker Casillas & Sergio Ramos (Spain) \u2013 17 appearances<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) \u2013 17* appearances<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Enzo Scifo (Belgium) \u2013 17 appearances<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Peter Shilton (England) \u2013 17 appearances<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Wesley Sneijder & Robin van Persie (Netherlands) \u2013 17 appearances<\/h2>\n\n\n\n