Loading...
It’s an honor to even participate in the UEFA Champions League, where the best teams from all over Europe compete against each other in the hopes of winning the annual Champions League Trophy. While many players from regions all over Europe have participated, only a small handful have consistently qualified for the Champions League, adding to their tally of total caps in the European tournament.
In this article, we’ll outline the top five players with the most UEFA Champions League appearances, including who they are, what team(s) they played for, how many caps they have, and how they’ve impacted the Champions League with so many games under their belt.
Starting the list of experienced Champions League players is the French striker Karim Benzema, whose UCL career would last from 2005-2023. Benzema would have an extremely successful European career, totaling 152 appearances in the tournament, 19 with Olympique Lyon and the other 133 with Real Madrid.
Out of those games, he’d win a whopping 5 Champions League titles, in addition to scoring 90 total goals throughout the tournament. Benzema is the only Frenchman on this list and will go down as one of the best strikers in UCL history.
Up next is Thomas Muller, a German striker whose UCL career started at Bayern Munich in 2009, a team he still plays for. Over 16 years of play, Muller would show 161 appearances for his German Club, giving him the most European tournament caps for any German player (next to Toni Kroos with 151 caps).
Throughout his career at Bayern, Muller would win 2 Champions League titles, scoring a total of 56 goals, and while he still plays for Bayern in the 2025 season, he could still add to his tally of games played and goals scored.
Following Thomas Muller is the Argentine superstar Lionel Messi, with 163 appearances in the Champions League. Messi would spend most of his career at Barcelona, where he would rack up 149 Champions League appearances, before transferring to France’s Paris Saint Geremain, where he put in another 14 games before moving to the MLS in 2023 (MLS teams do not participate in Champions League).
Throughout his career, Messi would win 4 Champions League trophies while reaching the second-highest number of goals scored in the tournament (129) behind only Cristiano Ronaldo. Considered the best soccer player ever by most, Messi has etched his story in UCL history.
Splitting the difference in games played between Ronaldo and Messi is the legendary Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas. In total, Casillas played 177 games from 1999-2019. He would play for Real Madrid in exactly 150 games while making an appearance for FC Porto 27 total times in the Champions League.
Just like most other Real Madrid legends, Casillas won 3 Champions League trophies with the team, making 59 saves to help his team achieve victories throughout his career. Casillas was truly a wall whenever he played and is the only GK on this list.
Finally, the player with the most UEFA Champions League appearances by a longshot is Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo. In total, Ronaldo would take to the pitch for a whopping 183 games from 2003-2022, playing 59 of them for Manchester United, 101 for Real Madrid, and 23 for Juventus, before eventually settling at his newest club of Al-Nassar in the Saudi Pro League (Saudi Pro teams do not participate in Champions League).
Not only does the legendary CR7 hold the highest number of Champions League appearances, but he also holds the record for most goals scored in the tournament altogether. Ronaldo has a whopping 140 goals to his name, along with 5 Champions League trophies, making him without a doubt, the most experienced and decorated UCL player of all time.
Liam has been a major sports fan and soccer player for over a decade, with a particular focus on major top-level soccer leagues, including the EPL, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and MLS. He has written numerous promotional articles for various top sportsbooks and continues to publish historical and factual sports articles covering the NFL, MLS, NHL, MLB, EPL and more.