Who has most appearances and matches coached in World Cup history?

Some people would argue that representing your nation in sports is the epitome of your career. So to have the chance as a footballer to represent your country at the World Cup is surely the single greatest achievement you can accomplish in the sport.

The players and managers in the lists below have gone even further though, breaking record appearance tallies at the World Cup throughout the years.

Who has played the most World Cup matches?

One time World Cup winner in 1990, Germany’s Lothar Matthaus currently holds the record for most appearances made by a player at the World Cup.

Featuring across five different editions of the competition between 1982 and 1998, Matthaus anded up making 150 appearances in total for Germany with 25 of those coming in the World Cup.

Fellow countryman Miroslav Klose finished his career just behind with 24 World Cup appearances though he still remains the greatest goalscorer in competition history.

Who has most appearances and matches coached in World Cup history?

Player	Nation	Matches	Tournaments
Lothar Matthaus	Germany	25	1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998
Miroslav Klose	Germany	24	2002, 2006, 2010, 2014
Paolo Maldini	Italy	23	1990, 1994, 1998, 2002
Diego Maradona	Argentina	21	1982, 1986, 1990, 1994
Uwe Seeler	Germany	21	1958, 1962, 1966, 1970
Wladyslaw Zmuda	Poland	21	1974, 1978, 1982, 1986
Lionel Messi	Argentina	21*	2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022
Cafu	Brazil	20	1994, 1998, 2002, 2006
Philipp Lahm	Germany	20	2006, 2010, 2014
Grzegorz Lato	Poland	20	1974, 1978, 1982
Javier Mascherano	Argentina	20	2006, 2010, 2014, 2018
Bastian Schweinsteiger	Germany	20	2006, 2010, 2014

Most tournaments played as a player or managed as a coach

Three different players in the history of the World Cup have made appearances at five different tournaments, the most by a single individual.

Those three are Mexico’s Antonio Carbajal in 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962 and 1966, Germany’s Lothar Matthaus in 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994 and 1998 and Mexico’s Rafael Marquez in 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018.

One other player has also made five World Cup squads in Italy’s Gianluigi Buffon. Those call ups came in 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014, though the famous shot-stopper didn’t feature during the France ’98 tournament.

Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira can go one better however as he has managed a nation in six different World Cup editions, the most of all time.

Starting in 1982 with Kuwait, Alberto then took the United Arab Emirates to the 1990 tournament, Saudi Arabia to the 1998 competition and managed South Africa at their home World Cup of 2010.

On top of that, Alberto also managed his home nation of Brazil at two World Cups in 1994 and 2006, winning the competition in ’94 thanks to a 3-2 penalty shootout victory vs. Italy.

Most World Cups won by player

Throughout the history of the World Cup only one player has won the tournament on three separate occasions; Brazil’s Pele. Taking his first title back in 1958 when Sweden hosted the World Cup, Pele then went on to lift the Jules Rimet Trophy twice more in both 1962 and 1970.

Most World Cups won by manager

In terms of managers, Vittorio Pozzo remains the only ever coach to win the World Cup on more than one occasion.

The former Milan and Torino manager took charge of his nation on four separate occasions during his career, overseeing title wins at both the 1934 and 1938 editions.

Interestingly to this point, nations who have won the World Cup have always been managed by someone of the same nationality!