The International Football Federation (FIFA) has stripped the veteran Kuwaiti star, Bader Al-Mutawa, of the title of the world's most capped player. FIFA removed Al-Mutawa from the top of the list of players with the most international appearances for their national teams.
The 36-year-old Al-Mutawa had previously gained the title from Egyptian player Ahmed Hassan after reaching 185 appearances for the Kuwait national team in June. However, FIFA published a new list of players with the most international matches, topped by former Malaysian star, Soh Chin Aun, with a record of 195 matches, played between 1969 and 1984 while representing his country. This moved Al-Mutawa to second place.
This change came after FIFA acknowledged a significant number of matches played by Soh Chin Aun at the request of the Football Association of Malaysia. According to some records, the former Malaysian defender played over 220 matches for the national team, but many of those are not recognized by FIFA.
The 71-year-old Malaysian star commented on receiving the title of "the world's most capped player" by saying, "I would like to thank FIFA and the Football Association of Malaysia for this honor. I feel very overwhelmed by this record confirmation; it is the highest honor for me."
After roughly a month and a half of holding the title of the world's most capped player, Al-Mutawa now faces a tough challenge, needing to play 11 more international matches to surpass the record set by the Malaysian star, who retired in 1988.
This new update to the list also came as a shock to Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, who had matched the record of Iranian player Ali Daei and had become the all-time leading scorer for national teams. He had hoped to break the record for international appearances before retiring, but FIFA's changes have made that goal more difficult.
Ronaldo, who will turn 37 in February, has dropped to sixth place on the new list, with 179 international matches—just one match behind veteran Spanish player Sergio Ramos, who is in fifth place with 180.
Despite Ronaldo affirming multiple times that he intends to keep playing at a high level until the age of 40, his task of combining the titles of "world's leading scorer" and "world's most capped player" has become quite complicated, as he now needs to play 17 international matches to surpass the Malaysian Soh Chin Aun.
Here is the updated list of the world's most capped players after FIFA's revision:
1. Soh Chin Aun - Malaysia - 195 matches
2. Bader Al-Mutawa - Kuwait - 185 matches
3. Ahmed Hassan - Egypt - 184 matches
4. Ahmed Mubarak - Oman - 182 matches
5. Sergio Ramos - Spain - 180 matches
6. Cristiano Ronaldo - Portugal - 179 matches
7. Mohammed Al-Deayea - Saudi Arabia - 178 matches
8. Claudio Suarez - Mexico - 177 matches
9. Gianluigi Buffon - Italy - 176 matches
10. Amer Shafi - Jordan - 171 matches
