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Kristine Lilly holds the world record of 354 international games
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Christine Sinclair is the only non-American in the 300 club
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There are almost 30 female players with over 200 international caps
International Women’s Day is on 8 March. To mark the occasion, we are taking a look at the four female footballers who have played over 300 times for their national teams: Kristine Lilly, Christine Sinclair, Carli Lloyd and Christie Pearce Rampone.
Between them, these four have amassed over 1300 international caps and scored more than 450 goals – only four of these were contributed by Pearce who played as a defender – not to mention six FIFA Women’s World Cup™ wins and eight Olympic gold medals.
Read on for more on each of the players included in one of international football’s most exclusive clubs.
Kristine Lilly
USA | 354 caps
With 354 international caps, Lilly is the undisputed world-record holder. Her international career, which spanned four decades, started in 1987 when she was still at high school… Just months later and she was etching her name into the record books, as the versatile forward netted her first goal for the USWNT, becoming the youngest player to do so at 16 years and 22 days old – a record which still stands today.
By 1998, Lilly had already broken the world record for the most appearances in women’s international football, surpassing the 151 matches of Norwegian Heidi Store. She became the first player in the sport’s history to surpass the 200 mark, and would go on to make an incredible 354 appearances all told. Her final match came against Mexico in November 2010, as the States fell to a shock 2-1 defeat.
Her career highlights include competing in five FIFA Women’s World Cups, of which she won two, and three Olympic Games, which saw her add two gold and one silver medal to the collection. Her 130 goals scored for the national team saw her reach second in the all-time list behind only Michelle Akers, before dropping down to fourth following the exploits of Abby Wambach and Carli Lloyd.
Christine Sinclair
Canada | 331 caps
Just behind Lilly is Canadian great Sinclair, who made a staggering 331 appearances across 23 years of service. As well as managing a serious haul of caps, the forward also plundered a world-record 190 goals. She surpassed USA great Wambach’s record of 184 in 2020 after scoring twice in an 11-0 rout of St Kitts and Nevis.
Sinclair’s first step on to the global stage came at the 2002 FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cup, where the potent forward netted a record 11 goals to claim both the adidas Golden Boot and the adidas Golden Ball, as the Canadians finished as runners-up. On the senior stage, she competed at six FIFA Women’s World Cups and three Olympic Games, helping the nation to a maiden gold medal at Tokyo 2020 following back-to-back third place finishes.
Canada’s long-serving captain retired from international duty at the end of 2023 and hung up her boots for good at the end of the 2024 NWSL season.
Carli Lloyd
USA | 316 caps
Joining fellow American Lilly in the 300 club is iconic forward Lloyd, who was named FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year in 2015 and 2016.
Lloyd scored the deciding goal in both the 2008 and 2012 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament finals, but went one step further at the 2015 edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Her jaw-dropping 13-minute hat-trick in the decider against Japan led the States to the title for the first time since 1999, and saw her named as the winner of the adidas Golden Ball and the adidas Silver Boot. A further world title followed five years later, as well as bronze at Tokyo 2020.
With 134 goals, Lloyd is the third-highest scorer in the history of the US women’s team, while her 64 assists places her in 5th on the all-time list.
Christie Pearce Rampone
USA | 311 caps
Unlike the other three players with over 300 international appearances, Pearce Rampone was not renowned for her goal-scoring exploits: instead, she played as a central defender and netted just four international goals in a career spanning almost 20 years.
The long-serving captain of the US national team won the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1999 and 2015, as well as a three-peat of Olympic gold medals from 2004 to 2012, following her silver medal in 2000. At the 2015 Women’s World Cup, she became the oldest female player to lift the trophy at 40 years and 11 days.
There are more than 20 female players who have played more than 200 international games. These include the likes of USA’s all-time record scorer Abby Wambach, Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy, and Alex Morgan and Becky Sauerbrunn, who both retired from international football last year.
Sweden’s Caroline Seger, Germany’s Birgit Prinz, Denmark’s Katrine Pederson and Italy’s Patrizia Panico also belong to this club, as do Brazil’s Formiga and Japan’s Homare Sawa.
As far as incomings are concerned, French markswoman Eugenie Le Sommer won her 199th cap at the end of February and could tick over into a second century on 4 April when Les Bleues face Switzerland. Romanian ace Florentina Spanu, meanwhile, is just behind her with more than 190 caps, while Swede Kosovare Asllani and Dane Sanne Troelsgaard also have more than 190 appearances to their name.
