Two players share the record for most men’s World Cups appearancess, at five. Antonio Carbajal played goalkeeper for Mexico in 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, and 1966. Lothar Matthäus played outfielder for West Germany in 1982, 1986, and 1990. He played defense for Germany in 1994 and 1998, tying Carbajal’s record. Some consider Gianluigi Buffon, an Italian goalkeeper, to have appeared five times too. He was called up for five World Cups for Italy, but was an unused substitute in 1998.
Two female players share the record for most World Cups appearances – men’s or women’s – at six. Homare Sawa played midfielder for Japan in 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, and 2015. Formiga (Miraildes Mota’s widely-used nickname) played midfielder for Brazil from 1995 to 2015 too. Sawa and Formiga beat Carbajal, Matthäus’s record at the same time, in the same World Cup. Pretty neat!
