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List of men's footballers with 1,000 or more official appearances

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List of men's footballers with 1,000 or more official appearances
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In association football, 51 players have played at least 1,000 official matches at all age levels. Regarding B teams and reserve teams, appearances for such teams are only included if made in the primary football pyramid and not in reserve divisions. Appearances made in youth football are not deemed to be official. War-time results are also excluded if they were later regarded as unofficial by the relevant Football Association(s); if they were included, Billy Meredith would be the first ever player to have played in 1,000 official matches,[1] and Stanley Matthews would also make the list.[2]

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Goalkeeper Peter Shilton holds the record for the most competitive appearances.

English goalkeeper Peter Shilton is generally considered the record holder for the most appearances, making 1,387 appearances between the 1960s and 1990s, including a national record of 125 appearances for England, and in 1996 became the first footballer to make 1,000 league appearances.[3]

Regarding amateur football, in March 2022, Robert Carmona from Uruguay was reported as having played around 2,200 official matches.[4][5][6][7][8]

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As of 16:15, 5 May 2025 (UTC)

NOTE: Only professional and notable players who had a professional career are included.

Bold indicates the player is currently active.

+ indicates there may be more matches.

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Notes

  1. Displays first and last seasons where appearances made. For example - 1972–1994 displayed where first appearance was in the 1972–73 season and last appearance was in the 1993–94 season. Teams in which it is known the player to have made appearances for, but these are unaccounted for, and teams in which it isn't known whether he made any appearance or not are included with a question mark in place of the actual unknown number of appearances.
  2. Paul Bastock is ofen credited with 1,280 club appearances in the news[25] instead of 1,286 because he is credited with 677 appearances for Boston United instead of 679,[26][27][28][22] most likely the total count is missing his match for Cheltenham Town, his match for Pinchbeck United and his match for Deeping Rangers in 2022,[29] and there is some other miscalculation that can't be traced since all sources listing him with a total of 1,280 matches lack the detailed stats per club.
  3. Paul Bastock additionally played once for England C, though this match is against a League selection, and such matches are also often seen as unofficial friendlies, even if they are played on slots during the FIFA calendar.[30]
  4. Barry Hayles played in 74 official matches for Windsor; 60 matches at his first stint, with the totals having a mistake,[57] as he played in 3 cup matches instead of 2 matches in the 2018–19 season,[58][59][60] and 14 matches (1 goal) at his second stint.[61]
  5. Barry Hayles played in 20 official matches for Merstham.[62][63][64][65][66]
  6. Barry Hayles additionally played two more times for England C against Highland League selections, also scoring on both occasions, hence playing four times overall and scoring once in every match he played.[30]
  7. Tommy Hutchison played for Bulova 22 times in league matches,[69][73] and in at least four matches in cups,[84][85][86][87] as he may have other matches unaccounted for in the Hong Kong FA Cup, in the Viceroy Cup or in the Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield.
  8. Tommy Hutchinson played in at least eight matches for Swansea City in the Welsh Cup,[88][89][90][91][92][93] as he may have other matches unaccounted for in the Welsh Cup
  9. Tommy Hutchison made 76 appearances for Merthyr Tydfil scoring on two occasions,[74] with the source from Merthyr Tydfil's site (with the club now – 23 November 2021 – called Merthyr Town) having his last name misspelled, but it's crystal clear this is about him for three reasons: i) from their description of the player, ii) there is a long history of his surname being misspelled on many occasions in the past,[81][94][95] and iii) it can be verified from other matches where he is credited as "Hutchinson",[96][97] if the lineups of these matches (which were for Swansea City in the FA Challenge Cup) are aligned with the lineups of them in his profile in ENFA (English National Football Association),[67] with 73 of these 76 matches being in the league[69] and so 3 in cups, with the two of these three being able to be traced with the misspelled surname from the same site that had these two matches of Tommy Hutchison for Swansea City, where he is listed as "Tommy Hutchinson", and are 2 matches against Colchester United for the FA Trophy in 1992,[98][99] and the one left was a match in South Wales Senior Cup on 8 February 1994 against Taffs Well.[74]
  10. Yasuhito Endō's previous references from official websites of some of the clubs he played and from football statistics databases are missing 3 official matches he played in the 2006 A3 Champions Cup for Gamba Osaka..[110][111][112]
  11. Roberto Carlos may have played in more official matches for Anzhi Makhachkala, specifically the total could be 32[117][122][124] but, in lack of other sources to support this and in lack of match logs, these possibly extra matches cannot be included in the list.
  12. Roberto Carlos played in 162 official matches for Palmeiras[123]
  13. Pat Jennings has matches unaccounted for, having played for Newry United[140] and Newry Town[140][141] (1961–62 Irish League B division)[133] in Northern Ireland before Watford.
  14. Pat Jennings was the first man in English football to make 1,000 first team appearances,[137] with his 1,000th appearance being on 26 February 1983.[137][138][139]
  15. Javier Zanetti played 13 times for Argentina U23; 1 match at the 1995 Copa Mercosur,[158][163] 6 matches at the 1995 Panamerican Games,[164][165] and 6 matches at the 1996 Summer Olympics.[166]
  16. Xavi's previous references from official websites of some of the clubs he played and from football statistics databases are missing 2 official matches he played for Al Sadd in cups in Qatar, one in 2016 for the Emir Cup[196] and one for the Qatar Cup in 2018.[197]
  17. Xavi additionally played 12 matches for the unofficial[198][199] "national" team of Catalonia,[198][200][201]
  18. Robbie James' appearances for Merthyr Tydfil and Llanelli are league matches only.[206]
  19. Robbie James made 68 appearances for Cardiff City.[205][212][213][214][215][216]
  20. Though based in Monaco, AS Monaco FC plays in the French football league system and in European, intercontinental and world tournaments appears with the flag of France.
  21. João Moutinho has been also credited with 221 matches for Monaco,[233] but this is a mistake as SoccerWay also includes two matches he played in the 2014 Emirates Cup,[229][234] which was a friendly tournament.[235]
  22. Tony Ford was the first outfield player to appear in 1,000 matches as a professional throughout the history of the English and Scottish leagues.[241]
  23. Tony Ford also played non-league football with Barrow, where his matches are unaccounted for.[241][237]
  24. Neville Southall won 93 caps for Wales.[266][267][268][255]
  25. Zé Roberto played in 128 official matches for Palmeiras[286]
  26. Kazuyoshi Miura played in at least 43 official matches for Santos; 4 matches in the Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior,[301] 13 matches in the Brasileirão,[297][298][299] and 26 matches in the Paulistão.[302][303][304][305]
  27. Kazuyoshi Miura played in at least 25 official matches for Palmeiras.[297][298][299]
  28. Kazuyoshi Miura played in at least 6 official matches for Matsubara; 5 matches for the Paranaense in 1987[297][298] and at least once in 1986, for the Torneio Brasil Sul de 1986,[306] a tournament organized by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF)[307] for the main teams from the South Region of Brazil that were left out of the 1986 Brazilian championship,[306] where he may have played up to 10 matches, as each club played a total of 10 matches,[306] but, having only one set of lineup, he cannot be credited with more than one appearance.[306]
  29. Kazuyoshi Miura played in 4 official matches for Clube de Regatas Brasil (CRB) in 1987;[308] 4 matches in the "White Module", which weren't recognized by the Brazilian Football Confederation,[309] even though they were organized by them,[310] but they are included here for two reasons: i) they were played under rules and regulations of official matches, ii) the football databases include these matches.[297][298]
  30. Kazuyoshi Miura played for XV de Jaú, with which has been also linked as his first club in Brazil, as early as 1982,[311] and with which was on a tour of friendly matches in Japan in 1985, thanks to exchange programs he participated back then,[312][313] in at least 27 official matches; at least 2 matches in 1985,[314][315][316] with the one for the Campeonato Paulista on 24 November 1985[316] being for him the first professional match to play, even though not the first as a professional player, because Brazilian football allowed non-professional footballers to play up to 2 professional matches back then, as he became professional at Santos in 1986,[317][313][318] and 25 in 1988 for the Campeonato Paulista.[297][298]
  31. Kazuyoshi Miura played in 59 official matches for Coritiba,[319] and because of other reliable sources having him playing 45 matches in 1989[318] and 14 in 1988,[297] as well as to sources having him with a total of more than 50 matches,[320] however it must be, though, also noted that the site of Coritiba has him with a total of 44 in a related article,[321] as well as the site of Historia do Coritiba (for verification, go to HistoriaDoCoritiba.com.br, then to "Atletas" from the menu bar located right on the top and search with the key "Kazu" in the "Apelido" field), a site run by the Historical Research Group of Coritiba, but, as it usually happens for statistical purposes, i.e. for comparisons between players, they could well be referring only to the league matches or only to matches with the A team.
  32. Kazuyoshi Miura, including the matches played for Yomiuri Football Club, which changed its name to Verdy Kawasaki in 1992, played in a total of 253 official matches for Verdy Kawasaki,[299]
  33. Kazuyoshi Miura played in 298 official matches for Yokohama FC, scoring 32 times in them.[322][323][324][299]
  34. Kazuyoshi Miura played in 6 official matches for Sydney FC,[299] scoring 2 times in them, specifically in 4 matches for the A-League[298][325][326] and 2 matches in FIFA Club World Championship.[327][328]
  35. Kazuyoshi Miura played 89 times for Japan[300][297][299]
  36. Kazuyoshi Miura played 2 times for a Japan B side,[300] and for that he is often mentioned in publications with the total, i.e. having played in 91 matches for Japan[328][312][313]
  37. Alan Ball's appearances for Hellenic[329] and Eastern[338] are league matches only.
  38. Nenê played in 30 official matches for Palmeiras and scored 8 goals in them,[351] and overall (including friendlies) he played in 32 matches and scored 10 goals,[351] with oGol, and Globo[343] and Juventude's official website[344] consecutively, wrongly including 1 more match (as well as 1 more goal) for 2002 Campeonato Paulista.
  39. Rivaldo's appearances for Paulista and Kabuscorp are league matches only.[353]
  40. Rivaldo played in 58 official matches for Corinthians[355][356][357]
  41. Rivaldo played in 120 official matches for Palmeiras[358]
  42. Glenn Ferguson additionally played four times for an Irish League representative team[386]
  43. Edin Džeko played in 48 official matches for Željezničar, in which he scored 5 goals overall; 43 matches (3 goals) for the A team[409][410][411] and 5 matches (2 goals) for the B team.[412][413]
  44. Edin Džeko played in 47 official matches for Teplice, in which he scored 16 goals overall.[420][421][422]
  45. Edin Džeko played in 15 league matches for Ústí nad Labem, where he scored 6 times,[412] and in at least 2 matches in 2005–06 Czech Cup from the 4 matches the club played there,[423] in which he scored 1 goal.[424][425][426]
  46. Edin Džeko played in 189 official matches for Manchester City, in which he scored 72 goals.[428][429][430]
  47. Paulo da Silva played in at least 50 official matches for Atlántida; in at least 36 matches in his first stint[432] (as NFT includes only league matches) and in 14 matches in his second stint.[433][434][435][436][437][438][439]
  48. Paulo da Silva played in at least 1 official match for Sport Colombia in 1997 Paraguayan Primera División season (Spanish article).[432][444][445]
  49. Paulo da Silva played in 148 official matches for Libertad.[432][446][447][448][449][450][451]
  50. Paulo da Silva played in 424 official matches for Toluca; he played in 15 more matches, namely 10 matches (1 goal) in InterLiga (3 matches in 2004 InterLiga,[452][453][454][455][456] 4 matches in 2005 InterLiga,[457][458][459][460][461] and 3 matches in 2008 Interliga)[462][463][464][465] 3 matches in repechages (2 in Apertura 2003[466][467] and 1 in Apertura 2006),[468] and 2 matches in Campeón de Campeones (2 matches in 2006 Campeón de Campeones).[469]
  51. Paulo da Silva played in 9 league matches for 12 de Junio in 2023 Paraguayan Primera B Nacional (Spanish article), based on posts from the official Instagram and Facebook[472] accounts of Club 12 de Junio,[473][474][475][476][477][478][479][480][481][482][483][484][485][486][487][488] from July[489] to September 2023.
  52. Andoni Zubizarreta additionally played 4 matches for the unofficial "national" team of Basque Country,[507][201] with one of them being credited as international friendly by 11v11, and the team listed as "Basque Spain".[508][509]
  53. Andrés Iniesta additionally played for the unofficial "national" team of Catalonia.[198][540][201]
  54. A match against Johor Darul Ta'zim for the 2020 AFC Champions League was later considered annulled,[535] because Johor Darul Ta'zim had to withdraw from the tournament after having played only two matches in the group stage, due to travelling issues because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia.[542][543]
  55. Ian Callaghan's appearances for Canberra City and Cork United are league matches only.[552]
  56. Neil Redfearn played in at least 20 official matches for Bradford Park Avenue; he had played in 982 matches when he joined the club, made his 1,000th appearance for the club,[589] and then he played in at least two more matches.[590][591]
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