The 15 Most-Capped Active International Players
By Dom Smith
184-cap midfielder Ahmed Hassan is the most capped international football in history. His lead stands at six games, but that doesn't mean it will live forever.
Playing for your country is the biggest honour a player can receive. However, only a select few can claim to have played more than 100 times on the international stage. Even smaller is the group of players in and around Hassan in the appearance charts.
Here are the 15 most capped players worldwide, still active at international level.
=14. Hassan Al-Haidos (Qatar, 132 caps)
The first inclusion is this list is Qatar legend Hassan Ali-Haidos, who is still in his 20s – remarkable when you look at his caps count. A one-club man for his nation's best team Al-Sadd, he captains the country he first represented in 2008.
=14. Alexis Sánchez (Chile, 132 caps)
At the age of just 31, few will have expected him to appear this high up on the list. The Inter forward has lost a lot of his craft in recent years, especially in the club game, but for Chile he has been a long-term servant who earned his first cap way back in April 2006.
Sánchez is his country's most-capped international of all time, and also leads the nation's scoring charts with 43.
13. Ahmed Fathy (Egypt, 134 caps)
The Middle East rules the world in terms of footballers with a ludicrous number of caps. In at 13 is Egypt's veteran right-back Ahmed Fathy.
His 134 caps make him the country's fourth most-capped player in history, still quite a way behind Ahmed Hassan's world record. Sheffield United and Hull City fans may recall his brief stints at their clubs.
12. Diego Godín (Uruguay, 135 caps)
A consummate professional and one of the greatest defenders of his generation, Uruguay captain Diego Godín has played 135 times for them since an international debut aged just 19 in 2005.
He was a bigger reason than any other as to why Atlético Madrid became such a force in the mid-2010s, and why Uruguay's second golden generation reached the 2010 World Cup semi-final and won the 2011 Copa América.
Easily one of the best players to feature here.
=10. Baihakki Khaizan (Singapore, 138 caps)
A true journeyman currently turning out for his 15th club, Baihakki Khaizan has been a stalwart at the back for Singapore for the last 17 years.
Another centre-back who debuted for his nation aged 19, he retired from international football in March 2019, but came back later that year to take part in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
For the love of the game.
=10. Lionel Messi (Argentina, 138 caps)
One of the younger inclusions at just 32, Lionel Messi is arguably the greatest player ever to play the game, and he's so far played it 138 times for the country he has already backtracked on retirement from twice.
Some say his international career is what lets him down. It may not be quite as mindblowing as Cristiano Ronaldo's, but you cannot be let down by having scored 70 goals from 138 caps.
9. Michael Mifsud (Malta, 142 caps)
Born in the small town of Pietà in Malta, 39-year-old striker Michael Mifsud has been the island nation's captain, top scorer and most-capped player for the last decade.
A sporting legend in one of the world's smallest countries, Mifsud is a bit like Messi (bear with) in that he has also retired from international football and then returned a number of times.
41 goals for a team way down in 184th place in the FIFA World Rankings is a fantastic effort.
8. Michael Bradley (USA, 151 caps)
By no means the best player that the United States has produced, and he would admit that himself, Bradley has mastered the simple but oh so effective facets of being a central midfielder, and he has more than 151 caps for his nation to show for that.
He scored under the management of his father at the 2010 World Cup, and he is still going strong on the international scene a decade later.
7. Amer Shafi (Jordan, 159 caps)
Amer Shafi has been Jordan's goalkeeper since 2002. But his talents don't end there. Having just seen his teammate miss a penalty in a friendly against India in 2018, he took the ball to the edge of his area minutes later, and drop-kicked it all the ball over his opposite number's head and in.
What a hero.
6. Andrés Guardado (Mexico, 162 caps)
Mexico has produced some cracking players over the years, but few are as versatile and as talented as 33-year-old Andrés Guardado. He captained the Tricolor at Russia 2018, his fourth World Cup.
Guardado is still a fair few appearances off matching Claudio Suárez, Mexico's most-capped player with 177, but he might just catch him one day. He remains as important a player to them as ever.
5. Maynor Figueroa (Honduras, 163 caps)
Honduras' greatest ever player, Maynor Figueroa captains the Central American side for whom he has earned 163 caps. A Wigan Athletic legend who was also on Hull City's books for a couple of years, Figueroa is remembered for his halfway line goal against Stoke City in the Premier League in 2009, but it is at international level that he has really excelled.
At 37, he is showing no signs of stopping and could continue to play a starring role at the back for them for a good couple of years yet.
4. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, 164 caps)
Taking into consideration the level of opponents he and others faced, Cristiano Ronaldo is probably the greatest player international football has ever seen. The man for the big occasion, he has netted an unfathomable 99 international goals in 164 matches for Portugal.
If ever there was a man that wanted to and was good enough to play on for a major world nation beyond the age of 40, it is him. Becoming the first man to 200 international caps is touch and go, but to be the record international goalscorer he only needs to pocket ten more goals. He can do that, and he probably will.
3. Sergio Ramos (Spain, 170 caps)
Another fiercely competitive professional built in the same mould as Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos recently beat Iker Casillas' record to become Spain's most-capped player in history.
His importance to La Roja has actually increased with age, and he has taken on the responsibility of both captaincy and the role of regular penalty taker in recent years.
The two-time European Championship winners and one-time World Cup winner deserves more respect than he gets. He doesn't play with morals, but he does play superbly well.
2. Ahmed Mubarak (Oman, 175 caps)
Holding midfielder Ahmed Mubarak turned professional in the year 2000 and has turned out for 16 clubs since then. He's been a mainstay for Oman since 2003 though, scoring 23 goals along the way.
He has played in qualifiers for the 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022 World Cups. When you put it like that, you get a sense of how incredible that level of longevity is.
Most of us would give our right arm for just one cap. Mubarak has 175.
1. Bader Al-Mutawa (Kuwait, 178 caps)
And the winner is... Bader Al-Mutawa. The 35-year-old forward is officially the most-capped international footballer still competing for his country, and the joint-second most-capped of all-time.
The scorer of 56 international goals, he has played against some of the world's biggest nations. And in 2019 he and Kuwait went on tour in England. He faced the likes of Hungerford Town and Aston Villa. You never know where international football will take you.
But seriously, to top this list is immensely impressive. Congratulations, Bader.