Will A Footballer Ever Win Over 200 Caps For a Country?

I was just looking at Lionel Messi's stats (as you do) and noticed that at the age of 24, he has 70 caps for Argentina. That got me thinking, could any player win 200 or more caps for his country?

With the longevity of footballers nowadays, I think they possibly could. The record is currently 184 caps and counting for Ahmed Hassan, an Egyptian winger who is 37. Maybe he could break the record but if not, will a player ever manage it?

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_footballers_with_100_or_more_caps

You may not consider United States to be a viable International Team, but Landon Donovan has only just turned 30 and is already at 143.

Lothar Matthäus won 150 for Germany which is quite staggering. To reach 200 you'd need to play in almost every game for 15 - 20 years I'd have thought.

Maybe a goalkeeper will reach it, maybe!

Cassias has a 134 at 31, there is possibilities there

Great shout that one Nay. He could quite easily play on for another 7 or 8 years no problem.

Peter Shilton had a 20 year international career and won 125 caps. During the same period, Ray Clemence had a long spell as first choice keeper, and won 61 caps, so between them they got close to the 200 mark, and there are probably a few more internationals played now (I think World Cup qualifying groups are a bit bigger).

So 200 is just about possible, as a career of 17 or 18 years at the highest level is potentially reasonable (even for a particularly talented outfielder like Giggs). A player would however have to play for a country that regularly makes the World Cup finals and Euros / African Nations Cup / Conacaf.