Talk:List of men's footballers with 1,000 or more official appearances

Rushden & Diamonds
Thoughts on a Wordpress site purporting to be an archive for an official R&D website before the original club when bust, a site whose admin admits to continually updating the website and therefore runs deep into self-published territory. All my warmest wishes, ItsKesha (talk) 21:08, 20 September 2023 (UTC)


 * Hello! It is a special case; it is about a player who played in the lower categories of English football, and in such cases many times you can find statistics fully only on self-published sources. By the way, for your information, the official sites of the teams such players played in their majority are usually coming from WordPress or BlogSpot. Kind regards, Lorry Gundersen (talk) 09:48, 25 September 2023 (UTC)
 * It's not a special case just because you declare it to be. If you can only find statistics on self-published sources, we don't use the statistics. It's as simple as that. And no, the majority of lower league clubs don't use Wordpress or Blogspot, this is just an inaccurate statement. All my warmest wishes, ItsKesha (talk) 17:38, 25 September 2023 (UTC)

Ferenc Bene
Why is not Ferenc Bene from Hungary appears on the number one spot with his 1480 matches? He does not even on the list. Barni9292 (talk) 13:41, 8 October 2023 (UTC)


 * Hello! Because Ferenc Bene had played in fewer than 1,000 official matches. This total you mention, i.e. 1,480, even though without a source, also includes friendly matches. Kind regards, Lorry Gundersen (talk) 13:22, 15 October 2023 (UTC)

Andoni Zubizarreta
I think it's a fairly recent addition, his games for Alavés B (reserve team in 4th tier, 32 senior matches) have now been added to Bdfutbol so have been updated on his own article. Tried to do so here but the page size is so huge that it won't load in edit mode. Can someone with more powerful tools at their disposal please add those 32 appearances and move him up the list? Thanks... Crowsus (talk) 04:31, 12 April 2024 (UTC)


 * Hello! It has been done. Thank you for informing. Kind regards, Lorry Gundersen (talk) 20:07, 13 April 2024 (UTC)

Ivan Rakitić
Hello! As he is nearing to 1,000 matches and I am currently looking at his numbers, and hence their sources, I noticed he has a match on his WP bio-article club career section for Nordstern Basel, but I failed to find a reliable source claiming that, so can anyone provide a reliable source so this match to be also included? If anyone can, feel free to do so. For the time being, without a source, it cannot be added/counted. Kind regards, Lorry Gundersen (talk) 20:22, 13 April 2024 (UTC)

Cristiano record
Yesterday, the media was abuzz with Cristiano's new record, as he played his 1,226th match in his career, surpassing Rogero Ceni, who played 1,225, to become the most appearance in football history. But when I saw this list, I was surprised by the difference in numbers and arrangement of players, but after I counted Cristiano’s matches without the matches of the youth teams, it appeared to me that the matches actually numbered 1,226. I know that there have been discussions in the past about this topic, but I find it really necessary to think and not count youth and amateur matches. --15:56, 12 June 2024 (UTC) Mishary94 (talk) 15:56, 12 June 2024 (UTC)


 * I completely agree with you. Youth and amateur matches should not count. Juanan412 (talk) 18:41, 23 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Hello! Why they should not count? Kind regards, Lorry Gundersen (talk) 19:40, 23 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Hello! Assuming by "Cristiano" you mean Cristiano Ronaldo, no, he hasn't the most appearances in football history, but the most appearances in top-level, only according to what IFFHS deemed last as top level (based on their last publication: https://www.iffhs.com/posts/3680), even though their previous one had many more matches for Fábio (footballer, born 1980) (see here: https://iffhs.com/posts/3147), which now doesn't without any explanation at all why so many matches were removed. Anyway, regarding the matches that are included, there have been many discussions in the past (like you also said) and you can see in the archived talks why they are included. Now, why do you find it really necessary to not count these matches? You did not explain why, while the reasoning they are added has been thoroughly explained. Kind regards, Lorry Gundersen (talk) 19:39, 23 June 2024 (UTC)
 * All sites and sources when mentioning a specific statistic do not include youth teams. The reader always searches for the official matches of major teams (this includes club matches and FIFA matches for national teams). If there is an objection regarding removing youth matches, I suggest creating another list regarding matches for the main teams (like this list) -- Mishary94 (talk) 13:11, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Hello! This is not correct at all. As explained, many times, in the archived talks here and in the WP:Footy's section, most sites, sources and football databases include international youth numbers and this article has been created taken this into account. In addition, the same thing stands also for the WP (Wikipedia) bio-articles of the footballers, i.e. international youth numbers hold additional significance in WP, apart from statistical significance. Kind regards, Lorry Gundersen (talk) 21:31, 26 June 2024 (UTC)
 * There may be a justification for not removing youth team matches, but this does not prevent us from creating a separate list without youth matches, so that we allow the reader all the options according to reliable sources. -- Mishary94 (talk) 01:56, 27 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I find it really interesting to create a new list without youth matches, even not first tier matches could be deleted. Some players have games like in 7th or 6th tier. Juanan412 (talk) 07:25, 29 June 2024 (UTC)