The players with the most Champions League appearances of all time have represented the biggest and best clubs in Europe's top competition.
Soccer's greats, from Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to Luka Modrić and Andrés Iniesta, have all lifted multiple UCL titles in their illustrious careers. Even players without a Champions League title in their trophy cabinet, including Zlatan Ibrahimović and Gianluigi Buffon, still enjoyed immense success in the competition.
Beyond skill, though, the players who dominated Europe had one thing in common—longevity. For years and years, the sport's best left everything out on the pitch in the pursuit of lifting the iconic Champions League trophy.
Check out the players who earned the most UCL caps in history.
Who Has the Most Champions League Appearances of All Time?
Cristiano Ronaldo has the most Champions League appearances of all time with 183. The Portugal international recorded 59 caps with Manchester United, 101 with Real Madrid and 23 with Juventus.
In his 183 appearances, Ronaldo scored 140 UCL goals, the most in the competition's history. He also is tied with Messi for the most Champions League hat tricks (8) of all time. Before leaving Europe, Ronaldo topped the competition five times and was an integral part in Real Madrid's historic three-peat in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Ronaldo's former Real Madrid teammate, Iker Casillas is the player with the second-most Champions League appearances. The goalkeeper earned 177 UCL caps throughout his career, representing Real Madrid 150 times and Porto 27 times in the Champions League.
All-Time Champions League Appearances: Full List
Only seven players in Champions League history have played over 150 matches in the competition, and six of them are all Real Madrid or Barcelona greats: Ronaldo, Casillas, Messi, Karim Benzema, Toni Kroos and Xavi.
Bayern Munich's Thomas Müller is the other player to round out the top seven. In fact, the German is the player with the most Champions League appearances for one club.
Müller is also one of just five players on the list to never represent Barcelona or Real Madrid; his current teammate Manuel Neuer, along with Manchester United's Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, and Gianluigi Buffon are the only players who amassed the most UCL appearances in history without playing for one of the Spanish giants.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Who Has the Most Champions League Appearances of All Time?.
