Manuel Neuer surpasses Hugo Lloris to become the World Cup's most-capped goalkeeper

Record-breaking night

Manuel Neuer became the outright World Cup record goalkeeper with his 21st appearance on Saturday evening against Ivory Coast. The 40-year-old surpassed the previous benchmark of 20 matches held by France's Hugo Lloris, the 2018 world champion who is no longer active for the Équipe Tricolore and now plays for Los Angeles FC. The milestone was reached in Toronto, where landmarks including the Niagara Falls were lit in German colours.

He gives us a lot of calm, he has great experience — especially the young players feed off that.

A career of benchmarks

Neuer is the only goalkeeper among the top four in the all-time rankings to have appeared at five different World Cups. He already stands as the oldest German international and the oldest DFB player ever to feature at a World Cup. No one has guarded the German net more often, with his cap total now at 126. Across major tournaments he has collected 41 appearances (21 World Cup, 20 European Championship), more than any other German national team player.

The goalkeeping elite

With 21 games, Neuer now leads a distinguished list. Hugo Lloris follows with 20, and the next tier includes Sepp Maier, the 1974 world champion, and Brazil's Claudio Taffarel, who won the title in 1994, each with 18 World Cup outings.

What lies ahead

To become Germany's all-time World Cup appearance leader, Neuer would need to reach at least the quarter-finals. Only Miroslav Klose (24 matches) and record national player Lothar Matthäus (25) remain ahead of him. One record, however, looks out of reach: the oldest world champion remains Dino Zoff, who was 40 years and 133 days old when Italy beat West Germany in the 1982 final. Neuer will be 19 days younger than that mark on the 19 July final day of this tournament.