Progression of association football caps record
This is a progressive list of men's association footballers who have held or co-held the world record for international caps, beginning with Billy MacKinnon, the only man to play in all of Scotland's first seven internationals.
Criteria
The criteria used by national FAs in considering a match as a full international were not historically fixed. Particularly for the early decades, and until more recently for FAs outside UEFA and CONMEBOL, counts of caps were often considered unreliable. RSSSF and IFFHS have spent much effort trying to produce definitive lists of full international matches, and corresponding data on players' international caps and goals. Using this data, the following records can be retrospectively produced. Note that, at the time, these records may not have been recognised.
One point of note is that early matches by the England Amateur side were played against the full national side of opponents. These matches are counted as full internationals by the IFFHS and the opposing FAs, though not by the (English) FA. This affects Vivian Woodward, who won 23 full caps and 30 amateur caps; the IFFHS considers him as the record-holder from 1909, when his total of 31 caps included 11 amateur matches.[1][2]
Before 1978, the world record holder was always European, except when Ángel Romano narrowly overtook Imre Schlosser. After 1978, many sources, including FIFA[3][4] and the Guinness Book of Records,[5] reported subsequent European cap records as world records. Subsequent validation of the caps claimed by Cha Bum-Kun, Hussein Saeed, Majed Abdullah, and Adnan Al Talyani has shown that, even stripping out ineligible matches, these players exceeded the contemporary European counts. Similarly, Hossam Hassan of Egypt was reported as having broken Lothar Matthäus' putative record of 150 caps in 2001.[6]
World record
Notes:
- 1 2 Also spelt "McNiel"
- 1 2 3 these match results were later annulled due to withdrawal or exclusion (from the tournament) of one of the teams involved, but count as full international matches for Iraq.
- 1 2 3 Contested at the 1992 Pan Arab Games
- ↑ Egypt sent its Olympic squad to the tournament, but its matches still count as full internationals.
- ↑ Saudi Arabia lost 3–4 on penalties
See also
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 World record development of appearances in the national team 30.11.1872 – 31.12.1910 IFFHS
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Vivian John Woodward – International Appearances RSSSF
- ↑ "Matthäus sets new caps record against Netherlands". FIFA. 22 February 2000. Retrieved 14 February 2010.
Matthäus was level with Sweden's Thomas Ravelli, both totalling 143 caps.
- ↑ Vecsey, George (17 June 1990). "World Cup '90; No. 120 Gives Shilton Record". The New York Times. p. 87. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
Shilton was honored in a brief ceremony before the game for breaking the world record, set by Pat Jennings of Northern Ireland. Jennings made his 119th and final appearance in the 1986 World Cup.
- ↑ McFarlan, Donald (1989). The Guinness Book of Records 1990 (36th ed.). London: Guinness. p. 248. ISBN 0-85112-341-4.
- ↑ Gleeson, Mark (8 January 2001). "Egyptian striker breaks caps record". FIFA. Retrieved 14 February 2010.
- 1 2 3 Scotland – International Matches 1872–1880 RSSSF
- 1 2 Henry McNeil SFA
- ↑ John Price European football archive
- 1 2 International matches of Wales RSSSF
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Norman Bailey FA
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Stanfield Olphert Martin European football archive
- ↑ England Ireland v England – 1894-03-03 FA
- ↑ England v Ireland – 1895-03-09 FA
- ↑ Ireland v England – 1896-03-07 FA
- ↑ England v Ireland – 1897-02-20 FA
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Meredith William Henry European football archive
- ↑ WALES v ENGLAND – 1914-03-16 FA
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Imre Schlosser-Lakatos RSSSF
- 1 2 3 4 5 Angel Romano RSSSF
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Severino Minelli RSSSF
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ferenc Puskás RSSSF
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Billy Wright RSSSF
- 1 2 Bobby Charlton RSSSF
- 1 2 3 Bobby Moore RSSSF
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Bjorn Nordqvist RSSSF
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Cha-Bum Kun RSSSF
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hussein Saeed Mohammed RSSSF
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Majed Abdullah Mohammed RSSSF
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Adnan Khamees Al-Talyani RSSSF
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Claudio Suarez RSSSF
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mohamed Al-Deayea RSSSF
- ↑ Ahmed Hassan RSSSF
- 1 2 3 4 5 Ahmed Hassan