Messi 2nd & Ramos 8th: Top 20 stars with most international minutes ever

Cristiano Ronaldo features 

International football splits opinion amongst supporters but it’s undoubtedly still incredibly important to billions across the world. The club vs country argument has raged across the last few decades and realistically, player’s priorities lie with those that ultimately pay their wages. International football, however, remains popular with the World Cup arguably the biggest tournament in the game, even eclipsing the Champions League.

Over five billion viewers tuned in from every continent for the 2022 edition in Qatar and hundreds of millions of supporters will descend on the United States, Canada and Mexico next summer. The amount of international breaks at the start of the season frustrates many supporters, and managers, but some players always turn up for their country, even for friendlies. Using Transfermarkt data, we’ve analysed which stars have played the most international minutes in history.

Which players have the most international minutes in history?

When it comes to international records, Cristiano Ronaldo reigns supreme. The Portugal international has played more games for his country than any other player (225), scored the most goals (143) and he ranks top in this category. The 40-year-old has played 17,926 minutes for Portugal and he’s won the European Championships but the Jules Rimet trophy still eludes him. Lionel Messi has famously won the World Cup and the Barcelona legend ranks second with 16,139 minutes for Argentina.

While Messi and Ronaldo are recognised around the world, Maynor Figueroa is relatively unknown globally but the former Wigan defender ranks third with 15,770 minutes for Honduras. Five goalkeepers feature in the top twenty list with Gianluigi Buffon (15,295) ranking highest in fifth place. There is a mix of players for several continents in the top twenty list with seven from Europe. The list is compiled from Transfermarkt data and is accurate to the best of our knowledge, but there could be some discrepancies with Asian and African players.