Since 1992/93: These Players Have Appeared in the Most Champions League Finals
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The lineup for this season’s Champions League final is set. Arsenal will face reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest. For PSG, this means several players get to compete in Europe’s biggest club match for the second time. This prompted Transfermarkt to examine which players have appeared in the most Champions League finals throughout their careers.
Leading the list is legendary German midfielder Toni Kroos. He qualified for the final seven times—twice with Bayern Munich and five times with Real Madrid—and his team emerged victorious on six occasions. Following him are four players whose teams qualified for six finals and, remarkably, won all six: Luka Modrić, Nacho Fernández, Dani Carvajal, and Lucas Vázquez share second place. The Champions League’s all-time top scorer, Cristiano Ronaldo, reached six finals and won five—his only loss came with Manchester United against FC Barcelona in 2009.
David Alaba has won four of the six Champions League finals he qualified for, while Italian defenders Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Costacurta each won three of their six finals with AC Milan since 1992/93. A further nine players have reached five Champions League finals, with Casemiro, Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Marcelo, and Isco winning all five with Real Madrid. The iconic Argentine Lionel Messi is one of eight players who reached four finals and won all four.
The Dutch players with the most finals to their name are Clarence Seedorf and Edwin van der Sar. Both played in the ultimate European club match four times. Their first finals came, of course, in the Ajax shirt, winning in 1995 and finishing runners-up the following year.
