There are few players more deserving of this crown
Xavi Hernández has had a glittering career. The midfield maestro played a crucial role in Barcelona’s period of dominance around the turn of the decade and was the fulcrum of Pep Guardiola’s all conquering team. He won an incredible 25 major trophies with the Catalan club before bowing out at the end of a treble winning season in 2015. But he’s not finished yet; the midfielder is still pinging balls around for fun in Qatar.
And if he can keep going for two more matches, he will become the outfield player with the most professional appearances of all time. He currently has 1,113 appearances in professional football according to Wikipedia, and the current record holder, Javier Zanetti, has 1,114.
The first 61 of those appearances came for Barcelona B before he made the step up to Barcelona’s first team, for whom he played 767 matches. He made 57 appearances for Spain at various youth levels and played 133 matches for the national team. Since moving east he has also made 95 appearances for Qatari side Al Sadd. Two more appearances for them, and he will take Zanetti’s crown.
If he is to become the player with the outright most appearances of all time, including goalkeepers, he will have to 277 games. Peter Shilton currently holds that record with a quite incredible 1,390 appearances to his name, spanning over a 30-year career.
Xavi has never relied on his pace, but even for him it would probably be too much to ask to continue playing for that long. He’s already 38. But it is an incredible record nonetheless, and few players are more deserving of holding it.
