Indestructible rankings: most fielded players in 2020

No professional footballer has played as many minutes in official matches in the calendar year 2020 as Manchester United’s centre back Harry Maguire. Up until December 17th, the English international was fielded during 4’745 minutes (53 matches). The top 100s for both goalkeepers and outfield players are available in issue number 318 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post.

For outfield players, Maguire ranks ahead of Manchester City’s Rúben Dias and the Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi. Other well-known footballers are high in the rankings such as Bruno Fernandes, Romelu Lukaku and Raphaël Varane. If we consider the number of matches played, the Danish full international Christian Eriksen tops the table with 54 games. However, in terms of minutes, the Inter player is not even in the first 1,000 ranks. On average, he played just over a half time per match.

With regard to goalkeepers, at the head of the table is Marcelo Lomba from SC Internacional: 4’740 minutes in 52 official matches. The Brazilians are over-represented in the top positions of the rankings. Four goalkeepers playing for European clubs are in the top 10: Lukáš Hrádecký (Bayer Leverkusen and Finnish national team), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Milan AC and Italy), Jan Oblak (Atlético Madrid and Slovenia), as well as Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich and Germany).