Spain captain Sergio Ramos on cusp of equalling caps record

Sergio Ramos will earn his 176th cap should he play against the Netherlands and draw level with Gianluigi Buffon.

Should Sergio Ramos participate in tonight's international friendly in Amsterdam where the Netherlands face Spain, the Real Madrid defender will earn his 176th Spanish cap and equal the European record currently held by Italian keeper Buffon. Ramos is presented with two more great opportunities in the year to surpass the veteran stopper with UEFA Nations League games against Switzerland (on Saturday) and at home to Germany next week to make the record his own.

It's initially felt that given the game in Amsterdam a friendly that Ramos won't start but understood that Luis Enrique will give the Camas born defender some playing time.

FIFA records

According to official FIFA statistics, should he feature tonight and Saturday, Ramos would have played 177 times for Spain and on a global level, this would see the defender tie level with Mexican Claudio Suárez. The overall global record for most capped international is held by Egyptian Ahmed Hassan on 184 caps, Oman's Ahmed Mubarak (179), Saudi Arabian Mohamed Al-Deayea and Kuwait interactional Bader Al-Mutawa (178) are also in the top ranking.

Ahmed Hassan retired in 2013 and with Al-Deayea also not playing, despite still playing at club level, both Mubarak and Al-Mutawa have not featured at international level for some years. Buffon too has yet to hang up his boots and gloves still involved with Juventus but has called time with the azzurra.

2005 debut

Ramos pulled on the famous red shirt for the first time as a full international in March 2005 wheen Spain played China in a Salamanca friendly. In his time with 'La Roja', the 34-year-old has won a World Cup and two European Championships.

Ramos' intention is to play for the Spanish side through to the 2022 Qatar World Cup when he is then expected to announce his international retirement and at that stage, it's feasible that the defender could have racked up over 200 international appearances.