Another record! Cristiano Ronaldo makes more international history

Cristiano Ronaldo continues to break records, cementing his status as one of the greatest footballers of all time, some still argue the greatest. The Madeira-born star has now become the player with the most international appearances in the history of the men’s game against Liechtenstein, bringing his total to 197 with Portugal.

This achievement sees him surpass Kuwaiti Bader Al-Mutawa, with whom he shared the record until now. At 38 years of age, Cristiano has already established himself as the international men’s player with the most games (197) and goals (118), an impressive feat indeed.

Ronaldo tops the most ever appearance list

To put this into context, Cristiano’s 197 matches exceed the number of appearances made by other legendary footballers who have since retired from the national team, including the likes of Sergio Ramos (180) and Gianluigi Buffon (176). Even Lionel Messi, widely regarded as Cristiano’s greatest rival, falls short with a total of 172 international appearances, but hasn’t yet retired.

Cristiano made his debut for Portugal in a friendly against Kazakhstan in 2003 and has since played for his country for 20 years. During this time, he has helped his nation to the European Championship in 2016 and the Nations League in 2019.

Returning to the national team after a difficult World Cup where he lost his starting position, Cristiano was back in the starting line-up against Liechtenstein, playing as the main striker instead of Gonçalo Ramos, who had taken his place in Qatar. With Roberto Martínez as the new manager, it seems that the tables may have turned, and Cristiano is once again the main man for Portugal. The Euro Qualifier against relative minnows provides yet another opportunity for him to showcase his talents and break even more records.