Top 10 Footballers With Most UEFA Cup/Europa League Appearances

Top 10 Footballers With Most UEFA Cup/Europa League Appearances

Who are the Top 10 Footballers With The Most Europa League Appearances? Have you ever wondered which footballers in the UEFA Cup/Europa League who have the most appearances so far? We have rounded up the Top 10 Footballers With Most UEFA Cup/Europa League Appearances and compiled them into a list just for you. The Europa League is no doubt one of the biggest competitions in Europe.

Top 10 Footballers With Most Europa League Appearances

Without further ado, let’s rundown the Top 10 Footballers With Most UEFA Cup/Europa League Appearances.

SEE ALSO: Top 10 Europa League Winners

10. Jeremain Lens – 70 Games

Jeremain Lens is a Dutch professional footballer who plays for Turkish club Besiktas and the Netherlands national team. He is a versatile attacking player, known for his pace and stamina, primarily being used as a winger or a striker, but he can successfully play as a second striker.

Lens began his career at AZ, and after a loan at NEC, played a part in their 2008–09 Eredivisie triumph. In 2010, he moved to PSV, where he won the 2011–12 KNVB Cup, and in 2013 was signed by Dynamo Kyiv. So far, he has featured in the Europa League with AZ, PSV Eindhoven, Dynamo Kyiv, Fenerbahce and Besiktas.

9. Joao Pereira – 71 Games

The Portuguese defender started his career in Benfica where he picked up during his youth career before going onto play for several European clubs who have participated in Europa League, right now playing for current Germany club Trabzonspor as a right back. The 35-year-old has 71 Europa League caps to his name with Benfica, Braga, Sporting CP and Valencia.

8. Mladen Petric – 72 Games

Mladen Petric is a retired Croatian footballer who also holds Swiss citizenship. He retired in 2016 after ending the season with Greeek side Panathinaikos. He won the Swiss Super League with two different clubs i.e Grasshopper Club Zurich where he won his first and this was the only title he got during his time at the club, and FC Basel where he won three different Switzerland titles.

With Grasshopper, Basel, Hamburger SV, Panathinaikos, he made a total of 72 Europa League appearances.

7. Daniel Carrico – 72 Games

Carrico is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for Spanish club Sevilla FC mainly as a central defender.

He spent most of his early professional career with Sporting, appearing in 154 official matches during four and a half seasons and scoring five goals. In 2013 he signed with Sevilla, winning the Europa League three times with the club. Since then, he has participated in 72 Europa League matches.

6. Bibras Natkho – 73 Games

Bibras Natkho is an Israeli footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Serbian club Partizan and is the captain of the Israel national team. He is the first captain of Israel to be of Circassian origin.He has perevously played for Kazan, Hapoel Tel Aviv, CSKA Moscow and Olympiacos, making him the sixth moth capped Europa League player.

5. Pepe Reina – 74 Games

Jose Manuel “Pepe” Reina is a Spanish footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Italian club AC Milan and the Spanish national team. The son of famed Barcelona and Atlético Madrid goalkeeper Miguel Reina, Pepe Reina began his career with the Barcelona youth team and made his La Liga debut in the 2000-01 season.

He has featured for a handful of clubs in the Europa League, such as Barcelona, Villareal, Liverpool Napoli and AC Milan, earning a total of 74 appearances in the competition.

4. Raul Garcia – 74 Games

He is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Athletic Bilbao mainly as an attacking midfielder but also as a central midfielder, known for scoring from the bench and having good aerial ability. Formed at Osasuna, he spent most of his career at Atletico Madrid, scoring 45 goals in 326 games across all competitions in eight seasons and winning six major titles, including the 2014 national championship and the 2010 Europa League.

Whilst playing for Osasuna, Atlético Madrid and Athletic Bilbao, he he managed a total of 74 matches in this competition.

3. Dimitris Salpingidis – 76 Games

Salpingidis won the Greek Player of the Year award for two consecutive seasons i.e 2007-08 and 2008-09 during his time at Panathinaikos. It was his second senior career club after PAOK. Salpingidis played a total of 76 games in the Europa League.

He won the Super league in Greece in 2010 when he was playing for Panathinaikos before returning to PAOK, but he never managed to win the Europa League, as he hung up his boots in 2015.

2. Frank Rost – 90 Games

Frank played 90 games in the Europa League, only one has played more games in this cup than him hence putting him at number two of the list. He spent most of his career playing for Hamburger SV.

Rost scored the only goal of his career when he was playing for Werder Bremen against Hansa Rostock scoring from open play on 31 March 2002. The retired German stopper also played for Werder Bremen and Schalke 04 in the Europa League.

1. Giuseppe Bergomi – 96 Games

The former Italian defender Bergomi is the top player with most games in the Europa League. Giuseppe Bergomi played for only Inter Milan during his football career spending twenty years at the club, scoring 28 goals in his 756 games for Internazionale. He scored six goals in his Italian caps.

Surprisingly, Bergomi didn’t score any goal in Europe, but won three UEFA Cups/Europa League titles with his club and since then, he has set a record of 96 appearances in the Europa League. This record is still unreachable and it is set to remain intact for the several next Europa League seasons.