Since Barcelona’s inception over 100 years ago, countless legendary players have worn the Blaugrana shirt and elevated the club into one of the most successful and iconic in soccer history.
From the players to set the standard in the early 20th century, to soccer icons such as Johan Cruyff and Diego Maradona and finally to the club’s golden generation of the modern era, it’s the players who’ve ultimately made Barcelona one of the biggest clubs in the world.
In a country where Real Madrid dominated the soccer landscape, Barcelona have managed to rise as a more-than-worthy adversary. Barça’s trophy cabinet is headlined by 28 La Liga titles, 32 Copa del Rey trophies and 5 Champions League titles.
It’s no surprise that Barcelona’s biggest legends are among the list of players that have also racked up the most appearances with the club.
Here, we look back at the 15 players with the most appearances in Barcelona history, a list that includes 10 players that spent time in the club’s storied La Masia academy.
Barcelona All-Time Appearance Leaders: Top 15 Players
The greatest player of all time leads the way. Lionel Messi accumulated 778 appearances for Barcelona in 17 seasons where he became the face of the most successful era in club history. Messi joined Barcelona’s ranks as a 13-year-old and left the club more than two decades and 35 major trophies later.
Arguably the greatest and most iconic midfield trio in soccer history come next. Xavi Hernández, Sergio Busquets and Andrés Iniesta were the engine room of both Barcelona and Spain’s all-conquering sides.
Xavi and Busquets make up the podium of Barça all-time appearances and are the only other players to have more than 700 caps for the club. Iniesta, the author of two of the most iconic goals in Barcelona and Spanish soccer history, is fourth on the list.
Gerard Piqué completes an all La Masia top five on the list as the only other player with more than 600 appearances for Barça. He’s followed by center back partner Carles Puyol, as the two of them manned the heart of defense in Pep Guardiola’s historic Barcelona sides as well as Spain’s during its golden era.
Migueli in seventh is the first player on the list not to feature for Barcelona in the 21st century. The center back played 15 seasons as a Blaugrana and was part of the team that conquered the first international trophy in club history, the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1979, a match he played with a broken collarbone.
Víctor Valdés was a steady presence between the sticks in the mid 2000s and early 2010s and is the only other player with more than 500 Barça appearances. Jordi Alba erupted with Valencia and then returned to Barcelona to become one of the best left backs of 2010s, before joining Messi and Busquets at Inter Miami.
Barcelona’s leader during the Johan Cruyff era as a player was Carles Rexach. “Charly” rounds out the top 10 and was an integral piece in a Barça side that ended a 14-year La Liga title drought in 1974. He would eventually also manage the club in two different stints.
German goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen is the only current Barcelona player on the list. Although his future is currently uncertain, he remains the lone survivor of the Catalans’ last Champions League triumph.
Barcelona achieved European glory for the first time in 1992, with Guillermo Amor and legendary goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta as core members of the Cruyff-led side. Amor scored Barça’s 4,000th La Liga goal and Zubizarreta is considered one of the greatest goalkeepers ever to come out of Spain. When Zubizarreta was Barcelona’s sporting director in the first half of the 2010s, he appointed Amor as the director of La Masia.
Few people expected Dani Alves to become one of the greatest right backs ever when Barcelona signed him from Sevilla. The Brazilian won 23 major trophies with the Catalans and formed a brilliant connection with Messi, as only Luis Suárez has assisted more Messi goals than Alves in his career.
“The Great Captain” Joan Segarra completes the list. Segarra captained Barcelona during their Cinco Copas campaign in 1951–52, a season where Barcelona won all five trophies they fought for. He also captained Barcelona when they became the first team to deny Real Madrid of European Cup (now the Champions League) glory in 1961, eliminating Los Blancos from the competition in the opening round.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Barcelona All-Time Appearance Leaders: Top 15 Players.