Kuwaiti legend Badr Al-Mutawa reclaimed his crown when he took part in his country’s encounter against Jordan in the third round of qualifiers for the AFC Asian Cup 2023. Now Cristiano Ronaldo is subbed on the field for Portugal at the 2022 World Cup against Morocco in the quarter-finals.
Cristiano Ronaldo now equals the record for most capped men’s international player with 196 appearances alongside the Kuwaiti legend, Badr Al-Mutawa.
Most-Capped Men’s International Player:
196 – Cristiano Ronaldo
196 – Bader Al-Mutawa
195 – Soh Chin Ann
Earlier, Cristiano Ronaldo won a European men’s record 191 international caps for Portugal, surpassing the previous mark of 180 set by Spain’s Sergio Ramos.
Malaysia player Soh Chin Ann’s world record of 195 outings is second, which has been ratified by FIFA
Before all this, The record for most international caps is disputed. Football statistics organisations RSSSF and IFFHS both recognise Soh Chin Ann of Malaysia as their record cap holder with 219 caps. Football governing body FIFA recognises Bader Al-Mutawa of Kuwait as their record cap holder with 196 caps, who surpassed Soh Chin Ann’s record of 195 FIFA recognised caps on 14 June 2022.
The Football Association of Malaysia recognises 252 caps for Soh Chin Ann, however this figure includes 33 matches against national “B” teams, youth teams, and other teams not recognised by FIFA or RSSSF as international ‘A’ matches
Portugal again left captain Cristiano Ronaldo out of their starting line-up, keeping hat-trick hero Goncalo Ramos in the team for Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final against Morocco.
Portugal’s all-time leading goal scorer with 118 goals in 195 appearances, Ronaldo was benched for Tuesday’s 6-1 win over Switzerland in the last 16 where the 21-year-old Ramos scored three in only his fourth appearance.
Ronaldo, 37, was upset at being left out by coach Fernando Santos on the eve of the game, and Portugal’s football federation then had to deny reports that their skipper had threatened to leave the tournament. Santos made one change on Saturday after that convincing win, with Ruben Neves in for William Carvalho, while his Morocco counterpart Walid Regragui was forced to shuffle his defence after Nayef Aguerd and Noussair Mazraoui were ruled out by injury.
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