Luka Modric will lace up his boots for Croatia’s group stage match against Panama on June 23 in Toronto, and when he steps onto the pitch, he’ll become just the fourth male footballer ever to earn 200 international caps. The company he’s joining: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and Kuwait’s Bader Al-Mutawa.

At 40 years old, this is his fifth World Cup, a tournament span that stretches back to 2006.

A career measured in World Cups

Modric has 199 caps and 29 goals heading into the Panama match. His first World Cup appearance came in 2006 in Germany. He missed 2010 when Croatia failed to qualify, but returned for 2014 in Brazil.

In 2018 in Russia, Modric captained Croatia all the way to the World Cup final, where they fell to France. That tournament earned him the Golden Ball as the competition’s best player, and later that year, he broke the decade-long Ronaldo-Messi stranglehold on the Ballon d’Or. In 2022 in Qatar, he led Croatia to a third-place finish.

The fourth member of an exclusive club

Reaching 200 caps for a men’s national team is extraordinarily rare. Ronaldo, the all-time leader, has pushed well past that number with Portugal. Messi crossed the threshold with Argentina. Bader Al-Mutawa, who played for Kuwait across multiple decades, is the third member of this club.

Modric becomes the fourth. Born on September 9, 1985, he debuted for Croatia as a young midfielder. After years in Real Madrid’s midfield, winning multiple Champions League titles, Modric moved to AC Milan.

Croatia has a population of roughly 3.8 million people, yet it has produced one of the most capped international players of all time.

What this milestone means for the beautiful game

The 2026 World Cup, co-hosted by the US, Mexico, and Canada, is an expanded 48-team tournament. Modric is Croatia’s captain and still central to their tactical setup.