Cristiano Ronaldo & Lionel Messi Will Equal World Cup Appearance Record In Qatar

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will equal a World Cup appearance record when they feature at Qatar 2022.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will equal a World Cup appearance record when they feature at Qatar 2022.

Until now, only three men have played at five different World Cups.

They are Germany legend Lothar Matthaus and Mexico duo Antonio Carbajal and Rafael Marquez.

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon also went to five World Cups, but he only played at four as he did not get on the pitch at France 1998.

Most World Cups Appeared At

Player	Nation	World Cups played at	Years
=1. Antonio Carbajal	Mexico	5	1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966
=1.Lothar Matthaus	Germany	5	1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998
=1. Rafael Marquez	Mexico	5	2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018
=4. Lionel Messi	Argentina	4	2006, 2010, 2014, 2018
=4. Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	4	2006, 2010, 2014, 2018

Ronaldo, whose Portugal side qualified for Qatar 2022 on Tuesday by beating North Macedonia 2-0 in a playoff, made his World Cup debut in Germany at the 2006 tournament.

He has scored one goal at each of the last four tournaments, netting against Iran in 2006, North Korea in 2010, Ghana in 2014 and Morocco in 2018.

Messi also scored his first World Cup goal in 2006 - in a 6-0 win over Serbia.

He did not net at South Africa 2010 but scored four times in Brazil in 2014.

Messi's most recent World Cup goal came against Nigeria at Russia 2018.

In terms of matches played at World Cups, Messi, 19, is two ahead of Ronaldo, 17.

The all-time record-holder is Matthaus, who played 25 games for Germany between 1982 and 1998.

If a team reaches the final or third-place playoff in Qatar, they will play seven matches.

Therefore, Messi could possibly break Matthaus's appearance record this year.

Lionel Messi needs to play seven more World Cup games to break the all-time appearance record :: IMAGO/ZUMA/Florencia Tan Jun