The players with most matches at the World Cup

Throughout its 22 editions, the football World Cup has had eternal names in the history of the sport. Pele, Maradona and Cruyff are some of the players who shone in the tournament and it led to a before and after in their careers. 

Although being the best players did not mean they were the ones to make most appearances at the tournament either for off the field reasons or because their team did not qualify for the competition." We bring a list of the 20 players to have played most World Cup games.

The 20 players with most matches played at the World Cup 

1. L. Matthaus - 25 matches.

The German player is the professional with the greatest number of matches played at a World Cup. He won the World Cup for his team in 1990. 

2. Miroslav Klose - 24 matches

The German dominance on this list is obvious. Germany's best goalscorer as well as the top scorer in World Cup history, managed to win the trophy in 2014. 

3. Paolo Maldini - 23 matches.

The Italian captain and one of the best central defenders the tournament has seen, was present on multiple occasions, but was never able to win it. 

4. Władysław Żmuda - 21 matches.

A legend in his country, he is the only Pole to have played some many World Cup matches.

5. Diego Armando Maradona - 21 matches.

One of the best players in footballing history could not miss out on this list. He won his only World Cup for Argentina in 1986 after a historic tournament. 

6. Uwe Seeler - 21 matches.

Another German is in the list. Even though he never managed to win the World Cup, he managed to get good results for Germany in which he came fourth (1958), runners-up (1966) and third (1970). 

7. Bastian Schweinsteiger - 20 matches.

The German attacking midfielder, who won the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, had one of the highest number ofd assists in Germany's history in World Cups.

8. Cafu - 20 matches.

One of the few players on this list to have won the World Cup twice. He captained the Brazilians for several years.

9. Philipp Lahm - 20 matches

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The fourth German captain to win the World Cup and he was one of the main men in the German defence.

10. Mascherano - 20 matches.

The Argentinian defensive midfielder had the opportunity to win his first World Cup in 2014, but Germany won it at his expense.

11. Grzegorz Boleslaw Lato - 20 matches.

Another of Poland's legends who played a total of 1574 minutes in the tournament and he managed to reach two semi-finals. 

12. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge - 19 matches.

One of the few Germans never to win a World Cup, but that did not step him from being a key players for the national team back then. 

13. Lionel Messi - 19 matches.

The Argentine is looking for his first title in what looks could be his final World Cup. One of the few current players on this list and he can make the top three with regards to appearances.

14. Rafa Marquez - 19 matches.

The Mexican defender is the footballer to have played most World Cup matches for Mexico. 

15. Per Mertesacker - 19 matches.

Another of the players to win the 2014 World Cup after superb work in defence during the tournament.

16. Ronaldo - 19 matches.

The Brazilian star managed to win the World Cup on two occasions, a time in which he also listed the Ballon d'Or.

17. Wolfgang Overath - 19 matches.

A World Cup winner, the defensive midfielder was one of West Germany's main players.

18. Berti Vogts - 19 matches.

Two time winner of the best footballer of the year, the former German player won the World Cup on one occasion.

19. Pierre Littbarski - 18 matches

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He won the trophy in the same year as Matthaus and also has other trophies to his name like the German Cup.

20. Mario Kempes - 18 matches.

One of Argentina's top scorers who, together with Maradona, won the World Cup in 1986. 

Who are the players to have played in the most number of World Cups?

In this list, we are not basing it on the number of matches they have played in, but the number of World Cups they have participated in. The list is slightly different from the one above and it is done in chronological order:

1. Antonio Carbajal - Brazil (1950), Switzerland (1954), Sweden (1958), Chile (1962), England (1966) (5)

2. Lothar Matthaus - Spain (1982),  Mexico (1986), Italy (1990), USA (1994), France (1998) (5)

3. Rafael Márquez -  South Korea/Japan (2002), Germany (2006), South Africa (2010), Brazil (2014), Russia (2018) (5)

4. Gianluigi Buffon - France (1998), South Korea/Japan (2002), Germany (2006), South Africa (2010), Brazil (2014) (5)

5. Lev Yashin - Sweden (1958), Chile (1962), England (1966), Mexico (1970) (4)

6. Pelé - Sweden (1958), Chile (1962), England (1966), Mexico (1970) (4)

7. Sepp Maier - England (1966),  Mexico (1970), Germany (1974), Argentina (1978) (4)

8. Dino Zoff - Mexico (1970), Germany (1974), Argentina (1978), Spain (1982) (4)

9. Mario Kempes - Mexico (1970), Germany (1974), Argentina (1978), Spain (1982) (4)

10. Diego Maradona - Spain (1982), Mexico (1986), Italy (1990), USA (1994) (4)

11. Andoni Zubizarreta - Mexico (1986), Italy (1990), USA (1994), France (1998) (4)

12. Roberto Baggio - Mexico (1986), Italy (1990), USA (1994), France (1998) (4)

13. Roberto Sensini - Mexico (1986), Italy (1990), USA (1994), France (1998) (4)

14. Marc Wilmots - Italy (1990), USA (1994), France (1998), South Korea/Japan (2002) (4)

15. Fernando Hierro - Italy (1990), USA (1994), France (1998), South Korea/Japan (2002) (4)

16. Paolo Maldini - Italy (1990), USA (1994), France (1998), South Korea/Japan (2002) (4)

17. Dario Simic - USA (1994), France (1998), South Korea/Japan (2002), Germany (2006) (4)

18. Cafú - USA (1994), France (1998), South Korea/Japan (2002), Germany (2006) (4)

19. Oliver Kahn - USA (1994), France (1998), South Korea/Japan (2002), Germany (2006) (4)

20. Denis Caniza - France (1998), South Korea/Japan (2002), Germany (2006), South Africa (2010) (4)