The players with the most appearances at the World Cup

At the elite level, every football player trains and plays - day in and day out - with one aim: to stand out to the point of being noticed by the national team’s manager.

Friendly to friendly, competition to competition, the ultimate ambition remains to participate in a World Cup.

But do you know which players have appeared in one the most times?

Below is a ranking with the name of the country, the player, the number of times they were in the squad, the number of World Cups they played in and the year of the World Cups for which they were in the squad.

– Mexico, Antonio Carbajal - In squad: 5 / Played: 5 (1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966)

– Germany, Lothar Matthaus - In squad: 5 / Played: 5 (1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998)

– Mexico, Rafael Marquez - In squad: 5 / Played: 5 (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018)

– Italy, Gianluigi Buffon - In squad: 5 / Played: 4 (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014)

– Brazil, Nilton Santos - In squad: 4 / Played: 3 (1950, 1954, 1958, 1962)

– Mexico, Andres Guardado - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018)

– Brazil, Djalma Santos - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (1954, 1958, 1962, 1966)

– Brazil, Pele - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (1958, 1962, 1966, 1970)

– Germany, Karl-Heinz Schnellinger - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (1958, 1962, 1966, 1970)

– Germany, Uwe Seeler - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (1958, 1962, 1966, 1970)

– Uruguay, Pedro Rocha - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (1962, 1966, 1970, 1974)

– Italy, Gianni Rivera - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (1962, 1966, 1970, 1974)

– Poland, Wladyslaw Zmuda - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (1974, 1978, 1982, 1986)

– Argentina, Diego Maradona - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (1982, 1986, 1990, 1994)

– Italy, Giuseppe Bergomi - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (1982, 1986, 1990, 1998)

– Belgium, Enzo Scifo - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (1986, 1990, 1994, 1998)

– Belgium, Franky Van Der Elst - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (1986, 1990, 1994, 1998)

– Spain, Andoni Zubizarreta - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (1986, 1990, 1994, 1998)

– South Korea, Hong Myung-Bo - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (1990, 1994, 1998, 2002)

– Italy, Paolo Maldini - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (1990, 1994, 1998, 2002)

– Spain, Sergio Ramos - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018)

– Spain, Andres Iniesta - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018)

– Saudi Arabia, Sami Al-Jaber - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (1994, 1998, 2002, 2006)

– Brazil, Cafu - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (1994, 1998, 2002, 2006)

– Cameroon, Rigobert Song - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (1994, 1998, 2002, 2010)

– Italy, Fabio Cannavaro - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010)

– France, Thierry Henry - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010)

– Paraguay, Denis Caniza - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010)

– Germany, Miroslav Klose - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014)

– Spain, Iker Casillas - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014)

– Spain, Xavi Hernandez - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014)

– Cameroon, Samuel Eto’o - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (1998, 2002, 2010, 2014)

– United States, DaMarcus Beasley - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014)

– Australia, Tim Cahill - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018)

– Argentina, Javier Mascherano - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018)

– Argentina, Lionel Messi - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018)

– Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo - In squad: 4 / Played: 4 (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018)

– Mexico, Guillermo Ochoa - In squad: 4 / Played: 2 (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018)

– Brazil, Carlos Jose Castilho - In squad: 4 / Played: 1 (1950, 1954, 1958, 1962)

– England, Bobby Charlton - In squad: 4 / Played: 3 (1958, 1962, 1966, 1970)

– Soviet Union, Lev Yashin - In squad: 4 / Played: 3 (1958, 1962, 1966, 1970)