Croatia Week
Home » Sport » Luka Modrić and Ivan Perišić set new European record

Luka Modrić and Ivan Perišić set new European record

Ivan Perisic

Ivan Perišić and Luka Modrić

Luka Modrić and Ivan Perišić have made history by setting a new European record.

By appearing in last Monday’s Nations League 1-1 draw against Portugal in Split, Luka Modrić and Ivan Perišić set a new European record for the number of appearances together for a national football team.

For Modrić and Perišić, it marked their 119th match together for the Croatian national team.

Modrić has now played 184 games, which is over half the total number of internationals Croatia has played as a nation.

Meanwhile, Perišić earned his 140th cap on Monday night.

The previous record for joint appearances was held by Estonian players Martin Reim and Marco Kristal, who played 118 matches together between 1992 and 2005.

Sergio Ramos and Andrés Iniesta recorded 117 matches together for Spain from 2006 to 2018, while Cristiano Ronaldo and João Moutinho played 116 matches together for Portugal between 2005 and 2022.

Among active players, Switzerland’s Granit Xhaka and Ricardo Rodriguez have so far made 113 joint appearances since 2011.

This study, conducted by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS), considered matches in which both players appeared, regardless of whether they were on the pitch at the same time.

Sign up to receive the Croatia Week Newsletter

Related Posts