Iker Casillas Is Spain's Most Capped Player: A Look into the Goalkeepers Glory

Madrid, Spain -- Iker Casillas is now the player who has represented Spain more times than any other player.

This past Tuesday when Spain visited Costa Rica for an international friendly, Iker Casillas dressed in the Spanish colors for the 127th time. Although Spain did not come out victorious, the 30-year-old stopper made history, and is still young in goalkeeping years.

Iker took the reigns from a former Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao keeper, Andoni Zubizarreta, who was capped 126 times from 1985 to 1998. Casillas debuted for the national team in June of 2000 and has not given up the starting position since.

Casillas has also only represented one club throughout his entire playing career—Real Madrid. He has commanded the area between the posts for Los Blancos over 500 times and is currently sixth on the all-time appearances list.

Casillas has represented Spain in six major tournaments and has been victorious in the last two, the Euro 2008 and World Cup 2010.

In February of 2009, Casillas surpassed Paco Buyo to become the most appeared goalkeeper for Real Madrid, at just 27 years of age.

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As a youngster, Casillas was made captain of the Spain U-17s. He went on to win the FIFA World Youth Championship and the UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup in the same year. He co-captained the Spanish national side with fellow Madrid star Raul and has not lost the armband for either Real Madrid or Spain.

Nicknamed by his fellow Spaniards as "The Saint," he has one of FIFA's recognized Top 10 saves of all time.  

Also on September 5th, 2009, Casillas tied Zubizarreta for most clean sheets and ultimately passed him on the 9th of September in a victory over Estonia in just his 98th cap for Spain.

When you consider talking about the best goalkeeper of all time, Casillas is sure to be a name brought up in the conversation. It may depend on your nationality or even team allegiance, but one thing is for sure: He is the real deal.

Congratulations Iker Casillas.