We analyse the Opta stats behind 30 of the legendary internationals that are set to participate in the Legends Charity Match in September 2025.
Football fans will have a chance to see their former heroes back in action on 15 September, as Sporting CP’s Estádio José Alvalade hosts the first Legends Charity Game.Luis Figo, Michael Owen and Kaká will feature in a star-studded fixture between Portugal Legends and World Legends in Lisbon on Monday 15 September.
Organisers Sport Global will hold the Legends Charity Game annually, ahead of the 2030 World Cup, co-hosted by Portugal, Spain and Morocco, growing the event year-on-year to create a lasting legacy through its charitable donations.
With Stats Perform the official data and highlights partner for the game, we thought it was an ideal chance to analyse the Opta stats behind 30 of the legendary internationals that are set to participate in the clash later this month.
Portugal Legends
Vitor Baía
One of the most capped Portuguese goalkeepers across history (80), Baía spent the majority of his career at FC Porto, either side of a two-season stint at Spanish giants Barcelona.
Baía is the only Portuguese goalkeeper to play in a UEFA Champions League final (since 1992-93), keeping a clean sheet in Porto’s 3-0 win over Monaco in 2004. That UCL victory followed UEFA Cup (2002-03) and UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup (1996-97) titles with the club, with Baía playing in all three successes.
Ricardo Carvalho
Ricardo Carvalho won 89 caps for Portugal across an illustrious career, winning Euro 2016 in his final major tournament for his country. He was the oldest player to appear at those finals (38 years, 35 days), although he didn’t appear in the final win over France.
After being named the UEFA Defender of the Year in 2003-04 after helping FC Porto win the Primeira Liga, UEFA Champions League and Portuguese Supertaça treble, he followed manager José Mourinho to Chelsea. At the Premier League side, he became a key part of a defence that conceded just 15 goals in 2004-05 – the fewest ever conceded by a team in a Premier League season.
José Bosingwa
José Bosingwa is a two-time UEFA Champions League winner, making eight appearances for FC Porto in their 2003-04 campaign before making 11 appearances in Chelsea’s 2011-12 success, including starting the final against Manchester United.
Bosingwa won the Primeira Liga title in four of his five seasons at Porto and made the UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament after helping Portugal reach the quarter-finals in 2008.
Bruno Alves
Bruno Alves was part of the formidable FC Porto team that won four consecutive Primeira Liga titles between 2005-06 and 2008-09. In total, Alves won nine honours with Porto in 171 appearances, an average of a trophy every 19 appearances.
Internationally, Alves was capped 96 times by Portugal, with Pepe (141) and Fernando Couto (110) the only defenders to have made more appearances for the Seleção than him.
Fábio Coentrão
Fábio Coentrão is another of the Portugal Legends side to have been named in the UEFA Team of the Tournament at a European Championship, with the full-back making the Euro 2012 side alongside teammates Pepe and Cristiano Ronaldo.
His inclusion in that side came after he completed the most dribbles of any defender at the tournament (13), which is also the highest tally by any Portuguese defender across a single Euros.
Coentrão helped his club sides win numerous major honours over his career, including the Primeira Liga title with Benfica in 2009-10, before winning La Liga twice, the UEFA Champions League twice and the FIFA Club World Cup twice with Real Madrid across five seasons.
Pepe
The third most capped Portuguese international of all time (141), Pepe is considered one of the greatest Portugal players across history. He is one of only two European players to appear at every major international tournament (Euros/World Cup) between Euro 2008 and Euro 2024, along with teammate Cristiano Ronaldo.
He won seven top-flight league titles over a long career at both FC Porto and Real Madrid, also winning the UEFA Champions League on three occasions at the Spanish giants (2013-14, 2015-16, 2016-17).
Aged 40 years and 290 days old when he struck against Shakhtar Donetsk in December 2023, Pepe is the oldest player ever to score a goal in the UEFA Champions League.
Luis Figo
Capped 127 times by Portugal, only Cristiano Ronaldo, João Moutinho and Pepe have made more appearances for the national team than Luis Figo. His exceptional quality saw him named the Portuguese Footballer of the Year in six consecutive years between 1995 and 2000.
Figo holds the record for recording the most assists in a single UEFA Champions League season, assisting nine goals in 1999-00 with Barcelona. That was one factor in him becoming the first Portuguese player to win the Ballon d’Or since Eusébio in 1965, as he collected the award in 2000.
One of the very few players to play for both Barcelona and Real Madrid, Figo won four La Liga titles across the two clubs before adding four Serie A titles at Internazionale later in his career.
Simão
After starting his career at Sporting CP, Simão joined Luis Figo at Barcelona in 1999. In his first season at the Spanish giants, he became the youngest player to assist two goals in a UEFA Champions League match for the club (19 years, 361 days) in his performance versus AIK in October 1999.
After leaving Barcelona, he joined Benfica, where he played more matches than at any other club in his career. It was at Benfica that he enjoyed his best goalscoring form. Simão was the joint-top scorer in the 2002-03 Primeira Liga, accumulating 18 goals in 33 appearances and becoming the first Benfica player to win the top scorer award in over a decade and the first since Rui Águas in 1990-91.
Maniche
Maniche played for all of Os Três Grandes (The Big Three) in Portugal, making 124 appearances for FC Porto, 69 appearances for Benfica and 27 matches for Sporting CP.
A well-travelled player, Maniche played top-flight football across six countries during his career, with spells in Russia, England, Spain, Italy and Germany outside of Portugal.
Fondly remembered for his performances at Euro 2004 where hosts Portugal lost out to Greece in the final, Maniche completed more passes than any other player in the tournament (307). He also scored arguably the best goal of the competition in the semi-final versus Netherlands, which turned out to be the match-winner at Estádio José Alvalade.
Costinha
Another player to win the 2003-04 UEFA Champions League with FC Porto, Costinha was a key part of their success. Sitting in defensive midfield, he made 104 tackles in the competition that season – a tally beaten by just one player.
His final UCL goal was the most memorable, too. His dramatic added-time winner at Old Trafford against Manchester United in the round of 16 sent coach José Mourinho sprinting down the touchline to celebrate with his players.
Deco
Deco played a key role in FC Porto’s UEFA Champions League title in 2003-04, as he was involved in eight of their goals across the campaign (two goals, six assists) – more than another other midfielder in the competition that season. He was named Man of the Match in the final win over Monaco.
His performances at club level that season, in addition to his excellence at the 2004 European Championships, led to a move to Barcelona for 2004-05. His 20 chances created at Euro 2004 were the most of any player, and the most by a Portuguese player at any European Championship.
Deco helped Barcelona to UEFA Champions League glory in his second season at the club, with the Spanish side defeating Arsenal 2-1. That successful campaign led to Deco winning the UEFA Club Midfielder of the Year for the second time.
Nani
Nani is best remembered for his time at English club Manchester United, where he helped them to four Premier League titles and a UEFA Champions League crown in 2007-08.The tricky forward holds the record for the most assists by a Portuguese player in a single Premier League season, setting up a league-high 14 goals for Man Utd in 2010-11. Of the 169 players to have assisted at least 30 goals in the Premier League, only Kevin De Bruyne (180) has a better minutes-per-assist ratio than Nani (226).From his first season with the club in 2007-08 to his final full season in 2013-14, Nani completed more dribbles than any other United player in the Premier League (241).
Pauleta
Strangely for a player so fondly remembered by Portuguese football fans, Pauleta never played a top-flight league match in his home nation, with most of his success coming in France.
With 141 goals in the competition for both Bordeaux (65) and Paris Saint-Germain (76), Pauleta is the top-scoring Portuguese player in the history of Ligue 1, as well as finishing as the top scorer in the competition in three different campaigns (2001-02, 2005-06 and 2006-07).
He scored a hat-trick against Poland at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, becoming the first Portuguese player to score one in a World Cup match since Eusébio scored four against DPR Korea in 1966.
Nuno Gomes
Two-time Primeira Liga player of the year Nuno Gomes is among the top 10 goalscorers in Benfica history thanks to his 166 goals over two spells. Seventy-six of those came across his first three seasons at the club following a move from Boavista in 1997.
Internationally, he scored four goals for Portugal at the 2000 European Championship, making him the youngest Seleção player in history to net 4+ goals in a major tournament (Euros/World Cup), scoring all four goals while aged 23.
Among the seven players to score four or more goals at major tournaments (Euros/World Cup) for Portugal, Gomes has the best shot conversion rate (25%, 7 goals from 28 shots). Overall, only Cristiano Ronaldo (10) has scored at more major tournaments than Gomes (4).
Ricardo Quaresma
Ricardo Quaresma won eight league titles for four different clubs across three different countries, winning the Primeira Liga for both Sporting CP and FC Porto (x3), winning Serie A twice with Inter and winning the Turkish Süper Lig twice with Besiktas.
Quaresma appeared at his first FIFA World Cup in 2018, scoring Portugal’s goal in a 1-1 draw with Iran aged 34 years and 272 days old. Only Pepe and Cristiano Ronaldo have scored at a World Cup at an older age than Quaresma.
World Legends
Peter Schmeichel
Peter Schmeichel was one of the best goalkeepers in the world in the 1990s, helping Manchester United to five league titles and the 1998-99 UEFA Champions League after a dramatic win over Bayern Munich in Barcelona.Schmeichel remains the only goalkeeper to have won the official Premier League Player of the Season award, collecting the accolade in 1995-96. A season earlier in 1994-95, he conceded just one goal in 17 appearances at Old Trafford for Manchester United in league competition.
Schmeichel is the third most capped player for the Danish men’s national team (129 games), with only Christian Eriksen (144) and Simon Kjaer (132) appearing more times for them. During their victorious Euro 1992 campaign, Schmeichel made more saves (27) and had the best save percentage (87.1%) of any goalkeeper at the tournament.
Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar was capped 130 times internationally, with only Wesley Sneijder (134) winning more for the Netherlands, while he played over 800 professional games for top-flight clubs.
The Dutchman kept a clean sheet in 48% of his Premier League appearances for Manchester United (90/186). Of goalkeepers with 100+ games for a club in the competition, only Petr Cech at Chelsea has a higher such percentage (49% – 162/332).
Fourteen of those came in successive appearances in 2008-09, as Van der Sar sensationally kept a clean sheet in 14 consecutive Premier League matches for Man Utd, a record by a goalkeeper in the competition.
Marco Materazzi
Marco Materazzi is a five-time Serie A champion, winning the Italian league in five successive seasons with Internazionale between 2005-06 and 2009-10. His performances in 2007 saw him named as the Serie A Defender of the Year.
No Italian player has made more UEFA Champions League appearances for Internazionale than Materazzi, who played 49 times for them in the competition between 2002 and 2010. He won the competition in 2009-10 under Portuguese coach José Mourinho.
Of course, Materazzi has also won the biggest international tournament as well. He played every minute of the 2006 FIFA World Cup final for the victorious Italy, making more clearances than any other player (12) in the match versus France and winning 100% of his aerial duels contested (3/3).
John Terry
John Terry captained Chelsea to 12 major titles – the most titles as captain by any player in English football history. Five of those were Premier League titles, while he also helped his club to the 2011-12 UEFA Champions League despite missing the final against Bayern Munich after a red card in the semi-final.
Terry was an excellent player in both boxes, providing an aerial threat at attacking set-pieces. Overall he scored 41 goals in the Premier League, which is still the most of any defender in the competition’s history.
Roberto Carlos
Scorer of one of the most talked-about goals in history, Roberto Carlos had a knack of scoring exceptional strikes from long range. His famous curling effort for Brazil against France at Le Tournoi in 1997 was one of many free-kick goals in his collection.
Roberto Carlos played every minute of the knockout stages in Brazil’s FIFA World Cup triumph in 2002, including the final versus Germany.
At club level, he made more appearances than any other Brazilian player in the history of the European Cup/UEFA Champions League (120), while he lifted the trophy on three occasions for Real Madrid (1997-98, 1999-00, 2001-02).
Cafu
Cafu is one of the most experienced footballers in men’s football history. No player has won more caps for Brazil than him (142), between his debut in 1990 and final appearance in 2006.
He is the only player in history to have appeared in three World Cup finals, both overall and consecutive, winning the 1994 and 2002 editions of the tournament. Overall, he’s played more FIFA World Cup matches than any other Brazilian (20) and has the best win ratio of any player to play 20 or more games for any nation (80%).
He ended his club career in Italy, where he played the final 11 seasons of his career, winning the Serie A title with Roma in 2001 before winning it again in 2004 with Inter Milan.
Javier Zanetti
Widely regarded as one of the best right-backs of all time, Javier Zanetti played the majority of his club career in Italy at Internazionale, where he holds the club’s appearance record in all competitions (858). After joining the club from Banfield in 1995, he played in 19 consecutive seasons for the Serie A side.
Five of those seasons saw him lift the Serie A trophy with Inter, while he also won the UEFA Champions League in 2010. He was the only Inter outfielderto play every single minute during the UCL that season, while he holds the record for most Champions League games for the club (97).
Zanetti made 145 appearances for Argentina men’s national team, a haul bettered by only two players in the country’s history: Lionel Messi (193) and Javier Mascherano (147).
Giorgos Karagounis
Giorgos Karagounis played a key role in Greece’s shock win at the 2024 European Championship, where they defeated hosts Portugal in the final. Unfortunately for Karagounis, he was suspended for the final but did score a goal in the opening match of the tournament versus the hosts.
Overall, only Konstantinos Katsouranis (19) has made more major tournament (World Cup/Euros) appearances for Greece than Karagounis (17).
At club level, Karagounis (50) is one of only four Greek players to make 50+ appearances in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, along with Antonis Nikopolidis (61), Georgios Anatolakis (52), and Konstantinos Manolas (51).
Gheorghe Hagi
Widely regarded as the most talented Romanian footballer of all time, Gheorghe Hagi has made more major tournament appearances for Romania than any other player (20 across the World Cup and European Championship), while his three goals are surpassed for the nation only by Florin Raducioiu (5).
At the 1994 FIFA World Cup, he scored (3) or assisted (3) six of their 10 goals, helping Romania reach the quarter-finals before being knocked out by Sweden on penalties.Hagi has made more appearances (51) and scored more goals (15) in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League than any other Romanian footballer. Indeed, Hagi averaged better than a goal every other game for FCSB in the competition, netting 11 goals in 20 outings.
Gaizka Mendieta
Technically gifted midfielder Gaizka Mendieta played the majority of his career in Spain at Valencia, where he helped them to consecutive UEFA Champions League finals in 2000 and 2001.Mendieta assisted eight UEFA Champions League goals in the 2000-01 season for Valencia, the most ever by a Spanish player in a single season in the competition.Overall, he was directly involved in 15 goals in 28 appearances for Valencia in the UEFA Champions League (seven goals, eight assists); the most by a midfielder for the club in the competition.
Kaká
Thanks to his award in 2007, Kaká is one of just four Brazilian players to win the men’s Ballon d’Or alongside Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo. It was a successful year overall for the midfielder, who helped Milan secure the 2006-07 UEFA Champions League.Kaká provided 22 assists in the UEFA Champions League overall – the only Brazilians with more are Neymar (30) and Dani Alves (25). Thirteen of those came for Milan, with only Clarence Seedorf (18) assisting more for the club.
Although he never won a World Cup with Brazil, no player provided more assists at the 2010 tournament than Kaká (3), while over the three World Cup tournaments that Kaká featured in (2002, 2006, 2010), he created 19 chances, second only to Ronaldinho (28) for Brazil.
Henrik Larsson
A phenomenal goalscorer throughout his career, Henrik Larsson spent a large spell of his playing days at Celtic, where he became a club legend.With 242 goals in 313 appearances at the Scottish club, he ranks third in their all time top goalscorer list behind Bobby Lennox and Jimmy McGrory. He won the Scottish top-flight Golden Boot on five occasions and is Celtic’s all time leading scorer in European competition (35).He scored 37 times for Sweden, with only three players tallying more across history. However, Larsson has played the most matches (23) and scored the most goals (9) of any Sweden player at major international tournaments (World Cup and European Championship).
Alessandro Del Piero
Alessandro Del Piero is one of the greatest goalscorers in Italian football history. Only nine players scored more goals than he did in Serie A (188), while he ranks fourth in the leading goalscorers for the Italian national team (27).He won six Serie A titles at Juventus and helped them to UEFA Champions League glory in 1995-96. Within that title-winning season, Del Piero became the first player to find the net in each of his first five UEFA Champions League appearances – something that’s been emulated by just three players since then (Diego Costa, Erling Haaland, Sébastien Haller).Del Piero made 25 appearances at major international tournaments for Italy (World Cup/EURO); the most by any attacker in the nation’s history. He was part of their World Cup squad in 2006 which went on to win the tournament after a penalty shootout win in the final versus France. Del Piero scored his penalty in that shootout and also scored in the semi-final win over Germany in extra-time.
Michael Owen
When Michael Owen broke into the England squad in 1998, it seemed that the striker had the world at his feet. Unfortunately, injury issues later in his career affected that prophecy, but he still ranks sixth in the all-time England goal charts (40).
Owen is the youngest player to score for England at a major tournament (World Cup/Euros), netting against Romania at the 1998 FIFA World Cup at the age of 18 years and 190 days. Indeed, he famously scored again eight days later, against Argentina in the round of 16.
He was the last English men’s player to win the Ballon d’Or, with his 2001 award making him the first Englishman to achieve the feat since Kevin Keegan in 1979.
At club level, Owen scored 40 Premier League goals as a teenager, an all-time competition record by any player.
Hristo Stoichkov
Hristo Stoichkov was a prolific forward considered to be one of the greatest Bulgarian footballers of all time. In fact, he is the only Bulgarian to win the men’s Ballon d’Or (1994).
Most remembered for his time in Spain at Barcelona, Stoichkov helped his side to five La Liga titles and the 1991-92 European Cup, playing in the 1-0 final win over Sampdoria.
Stoichkov is the top-scoring Bulgarian player in European Cup/UEFA Champions League history, averaging a goal every other game in the process (15 goals in 30 appearances). Four of those goals came in the 1991-92 triumph.He helped Bulgaria achieve an unlikely third-place finish at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, finishing the tournament as joint-top goalscorer alongside Russian Oleg Salenko with six goals.
The Legends Charity Game, hosted by Sport Global, is aiming to raise over €1 million for selected charities, including the Ukrainian Red Cross, attracting more than 50,000 supporters to the game with millions more following the action from across the globe via worldwide broadcast partners.
Tickets to attend the Legends Charity Game on Monday 15th September can be purchased here.
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Legends Charity Game 2025: How do Portugal Stack Up Versus World Legends? Opta Analyst.
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