Modric at 37 in top 5
Virgil van Dijk is the footballer from Europe’s strongest first leagues, who played the most competitive games in 2022: the 31-year-old central defender made 64 appearances for Liverpool (54 games) and the Netherlands (10). For comparison: the German Bundesliga professional with the most games was Joshua Kimmich from FC Bayern with 54 – in an international comparison that would not have been enough for the top 50 by far. Meanwhile, the 70-game mark was broken only once in Brazil.
Most appearances in 2022: Modric still in the top 5, Mané breaks the 60
The fact that players from the Premier League or LaLiga traditionally play more games than Bundesliga professionals is due to the fact that these leagues have 38 instead of 34 match days and that in some cases more appearances in cup competitions are possible. A total of 16 first division professionals cracked the 60-game mark in 2022: including the veteran Luka Modric, who despite his 37 years is indispensable for Real Madrid (46) and Croatia (16), as well as his compatriots Ivan Perisic (60, Tottenham/Inter) and Mateo Kovacic (60, Chelsea).
The stranger in the ranking is James Tavernier, who made 60 appearances in a Glasgow Rangers jersey – the accurate full-back has never played for England. Among other things, on the way to the Europa League final, the Rangers captain collected many appearances that made him the player with the most games at club level in Europe.
Bayern’s Mané and Leipzig’s Nkunku & Orban are Bundesliga long-running favorites
The football year 2022 also ended with 60 appearances for Sadio Mané. The winger played for Liverpool (26), FC Bayern (23) and World Cup participants Senegal (11), who he missed in Qatar due to an inflammation in the fibula head. Senegal even made it to the round of 16 without his star – if Mané had stayed fit, 64 games would have been possible for him too.
Had and would be aside, the performances of these perennial favorites are remarkable. From the Bundesliga, if you only count players who were under contract in Germany for the whole year, Leipzig’s Hungarian Willi Orbán (58) and his French team-mate Christopher Nkunku (58) who had a break during the World Cup for various reasons. For many Premier League professionals in particular, who are the most numerous in the list, the Winter World Cup was a physical strain: there were only seven days between the last day of the game and the start of the World Cup, while the traditional Boxing Day was eight days behind the finale – so there is hardly any time to regenerate. Perisic, for example, started the match for third place against Morocco (2-1) on December 17 and against Brentford (2-2) on December 26.
Fernandez great
Most games 2022/23To the statistics
World champions who were even under contract on different continents during 2022 and were also seeded in Qatar are Enzo Fernández and Julián Álvarez. Both moved to Europe in the summer after 28 and 26 appearances respectively for River Plate and screwed up their market value. Fernández has had 63 passes for River, Benfica and Argentina, while Álvarez has played 61 games as Man City’s number two striker.
The German footballers with the most appearances are legionnaires Ilkay Gündogan (58, Man City), Kai Havertz (57, Chelsea) and Antonio Rüdiger (55, Real Madrid/Chelsea).
German players with the most appearances in 2022: three legionnaires at the top
The global favorites of 2022 can be found in Brazil, where thanks to national cup formats it was possible for Wellington Rato to make 70 appearances for FC São Paulo.
In the first division, which was played from April to November, the winger missed only two of the 38 games, in the Copa do Brasil, where it ended in the quarterfinals, he made eight appearances, in the Copa Sudamericana eleven times through to the semifinals and in the Winning the Campeonato Goiano title 15 times. In total there are ten footballers playing in Brazil who have surpassed van Dijk’s 64 appearances.
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