I just randomly glanced at Chris Smalling's Wikipedia page and saw he has 31 England caps. I barely remember him playing for England at all 
Players you didn't realise got many International caps
- Thread starter Berbaclass
- Start date
Wes Brown 23 caps
I really liked Wes.
I really liked Wes.
Emile Heskey has more (62) England caps than Paul Gascoigne, Jimmy Greaves and Stanley Matthews.
Ross Barkley has 33 caps. Didn't realise he played that much
Kevin Phillips got 8 too many
Carlton Palmer 18 caps.
Joe Hart has as many England caps as David Seaman and more than Gordon Banks.
Steve Bruce was never capped at Senior Level bar an England 'B' appearnce .
Pallister only had 22 caps.
There was a good bit of competition to be fair but blows my mind Bruce was never capped at all
Pallister only had 22 caps.
There was a good bit of competition to be fair but blows my mind Bruce was never capped at all
Stanley averaging about 2 a year, geez.
8 years without a cap. Wonder what happened..
France 2008-2016 is full of them. Yohan Cabaye has 48 caps. Moussa Sissoko has 71!
Thorsten Frings (79) has more games for Germany than Mats Hummels (78).
Cabaye was good for a long time. Also people shouldn't mix eras because pre-90s international Football didn't had that many official games and rare friendlies.
Tom Cleverley has 13 caps
Anthony Gardener played once for England in 2004. Once more than I can remember
That’s a good one. He was good though for a few years if my memory serves me. I know he turned into a joke shop in the end. He was a cheap signing too I’m fairly sure
Lauren James kind of.
I don't follow women's football but the proportion of caps to league games surprised me when I saw her profile the other week. She has 20 caps since her England debut in September 2022. In 22/23 and 23/24 she has played 28 league games for Chelsea. It might have been less than that when I saw it the other week.
After googling it I saw there are only 12 teams in the WSL and that they play each other twice for a 22 game season so I guess it's quite common to have almost as many caps as league appearances over a period of time.
Probably for another thread, but I wonder if there's any move to make the WSL like the men's Scottish Premier League where there's 12 teams and they have a 38 match season?
Edit:
Not saying they should play that many games in the WSL and don't know if it's commercially viable, just thought it was unusual as I'm used to looking at appearance stats from men's football.
I don't follow women's football but the proportion of caps to league games surprised me when I saw her profile the other week. She has 20 caps since her England debut in September 2022. In 22/23 and 23/24 she has played 28 league games for Chelsea. It might have been less than that when I saw it the other week.
After googling it I saw there are only 12 teams in the WSL and that they play each other twice for a 22 game season so I guess it's quite common to have almost as many caps as league appearances over a period of time.
Probably for another thread, but I wonder if there's any move to make the WSL like the men's Scottish Premier League where there's 12 teams and they have a 38 match season?
Edit:
Not saying they should play that many games in the WSL and don't know if it's commercially viable, just thought it was unusual as I'm used to looking at appearance stats from men's football.
Last edited:
Eric Dier 49 caps.
There was a brief period where he was considered England's most irreplaceable player.
There was a brief period where he was considered England's most irreplaceable player.
Messi has 180 caps.
C Ronaldo with his 205 caps.
Harry Kane that seems like have been playing forever in every NT games 'only' has 89 caps.
C Ronaldo with his 205 caps.
Harry Kane that seems like have been playing forever in every NT games 'only' has 89 caps.
Totti only has 58 caps and less goals for Italy than Balotelli
Michael Carrick has got 34 caps. One more cap than Ross fecking Barkley. What an absolute joke.
Is caps short for anything??
Phil Neville 59. Would have guessed less. Suppose he was useful for squads as you could slot him into a few different positions.
Jermaine Defoe on 57 is more than I would have imagined too.
Jermaine Defoe on 57 is more than I would have imagined too.
No, players are literally given a cap (hat) every time they play for England. Goes back to the early years of football. Might be different in different countries.
A cap or number of caps became a way of saying an appearance or number of appearances for a player's country.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cap_(sport)
Opposite of the question I know, but some of the players considered one of the greatest the country ever produced really didn't play many times for the national time, which I always find interesting.
Scotland - Jimmy Johnson 23 caps. Alan Hansen 26 caps. Davie Cooper 22 caps. For comparison McTominay already has 47 caps.
Italy - Roberto Baggio 56 caps.
Wales - John Charles 38 caps. Ryan Giggs 64 caps.
Scotland - Jimmy Johnson 23 caps. Alan Hansen 26 caps. Davie Cooper 22 caps. For comparison McTominay already has 47 caps.
Italy - Roberto Baggio 56 caps.
Wales - John Charles 38 caps. Ryan Giggs 64 caps.
Just a function of there being fewer international games in the past I suppose, although even taking that into account you might have expected some of those to get more than they did. If you look at most caps or most goals for a country it's almost always someone from fairly recent times who holds the records.
Giggs could have had quite a few more but often pulled out of friendlies.
Do they actually get a cap for every game?
Robbie Fowler only had 26 caps
Not quite, and I didn't know this until reading through the wiki article I linked to, if they play in a tournament (Euros, World Cup) they get given one for the whole tournament instead of one for each game they played in the tournament. Not sure about the newer Nations League competition when it comes to the final stages.
Outside of that of that yes.
You can see some of David Beckham's in this article - https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/showbiz-news/david-beckham-england-caps-kids-11927401
Here's Andros Townsend showing off the first 4 he got - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...tar-revealed-delivery-international-caps.html
Last edited:
Anders Svensson 148 matches for Sweden which is a record there.
I played with him when young. Lovely lad and fantastic player... best I've played with I think...
I played with him when young. Lovely lad and fantastic player... best I've played with I think...
Zola with 35 for Italy and 2 for Sardinia
Jesse Lingard has 32 caps for England - about 30 too much.
Diego Simeone has 104 caps for Argentina. I know he was a solid, even good player, but his name is rarely mentioned as a midfield great.
On the other hand, a far more talented midfielder like Fernando Redondo had only 29 caps. That caught me by surprise. Simeone and Redondo were about the same age too.
On the other hand, a far more talented midfielder like Fernando Redondo had only 29 caps. That caught me by surprise. Simeone and Redondo were about the same age too.
An obvious one but Andy Cole
Winning titles every year and regularly scoring 20+ goals and barely got a sniff
Scored 25, 24 and 22 between 98, 99 and 00 won multiple leagues and a treble and got 2 caps in those 3 years
Winning titles every year and regularly scoring 20+ goals and barely got a sniff
Scored 25, 24 and 22 between 98, 99 and 00 won multiple leagues and a treble and got 2 caps in those 3 years
Robinho having 100 caps may surprise foreigners, but he was a force for Seleção, much better than for his clubs.
I would never have guessed that Podolski had 130 caps and 49 goals for a nation like Germany. I would have probably shot for 50/60.
The fact his speed was hindered by so many injuries and the trajectory of his club career doesn’t suggest someone who would reach legendary cap numbers for one of the great footballing nations.
The fact his speed was hindered by so many injuries and the trajectory of his club career doesn’t suggest someone who would reach legendary cap numbers for one of the great footballing nations.
Needed five or six chances to score one though
In my mind I always paired him with Klose, players who basically existed for the German national team rather than club football
Both of those are ridiculous really when these days anyone even vaguely decent gets capped. And often quite a lot.