Manchester City Football Club, then known as Ardwick, first entered the Football League in the 1892–93 season. Since that time the club's first team has competed in numerous nationally and internationally organised competitions, and all players who have played in 100 or more such matches are listed below, which encompasses all players who have been inducted into the Manchester City Hall of Fame.The statistical data for the majority of the players who had played 100 or more matches for the club prior to the start of season 2003–04 is sourced from Manchester City – The Complete Record. Also included are all winners of the Player of the Year award, which has been awarded annually since 1967 by the Manchester City Official Supporters Club based on a ballot of the supporters.

Alan Oakes holds the record for Manchester City league appearances, having played 565 matches between 1959 and 1976. If all senior competitions are included, Oakes has 680.Manchester City – The Complete Record, pp 155–167

As of June 2026, the player who have won the most international caps while playing at the club is Bernardo Silva for Portugal with 96 caps . Prior to Bernardo Silva achieving this distinction the record had previously been held by David Silva for Spain (87 caps), Joe Hart (63 caps) and Colin Bell, the latter of which held the record for over 40 years with 48 England appearances between 1968 and 1975. The current squad member with the most caps in total is Mateo Kovačić who has a total of 120 caps for Croatia (25 while a City player), while Erling Haaland holds the record for most international goals scored while at the club, netting 45 for Norway in just 37 appearances.

The Manchester City player who has been capped the most times for England in total is Frank Lampard, who was capped 106 times for England between October 1999 and June 2014, but he only played for City for one season in 2014–15 after he had retired from international duty. The Manchester City player who has been capped the most times totally internationally is Shay Given, who was capped for the Republic of Ireland 134 times from 1996 to 2016. He played for the club for two and a half seasons between 2009 and 2011.

Sergio Agüero holds the Manchester City goalscoring record across all competitions; is the club's highest league goalscorer; and holds numerous other club records set between 2011 and 2021. As of May 2021, when he left the club, Agüero's record stood at 184 league goals scored and 260 overall.

Erling Haaland holds the club and Premier League records for league goals, and club record for total goals in a single season, with 36 league goals, 52 overall in 2022–23. This single season tally also means Haaland additionally currently holds the record for most goals scored per game played in a season, his 52 goals in 53 appearances yielding a goal scoring rate of 0.97 goals per game. Haaland is also the first City player to win five prestigious individual football awards in a season and the first to win the UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award, and the player who has scored the most international goals while a City player.

In 2024 Rodri became the first current City player to win the Ballon d'Or.

__TOC__

Sourcing, currency and key for the statistics

The following information applies to both of the tables listed in the next section of this article:

Order Players are listed according to the date of their first team debut for the club.

Legend Players listed in bold are inductees of one or more of the following: the Manchester City Hall of Fame, the National Football Museum Hall of Fame, the Scottish Football Museum Hall of Fame, or the Premier League Hall of Fame. Players listed in italics are winners of the Player of the Year award (and the number of times they have each received this award is shown in the "PotY" column).

Nationality Normally the player's country of birth or later adopted nationality. In the case of a country such as Germany that has been unified it will indicate whichever of the prior nations, West or East, determined how that player was capped at international level during his playing career despite his nationality now being simply German.

Club career Club career is defined as the first and last calendar years in which the player appeared for the club in any of the competitions listed below, regardless of how long the player was contracted to the club. For players who had two or more spells at the club, the years for each period are listed separately.

+ Positions tactical evolutionPre-1970s1970s onwardsGKGoalkeeperDFFull backDFFull back or Wing backMFCentre halfDFCentre backMFHalf backMFHolding midfielderFWOutside forward (a.k.a. Winger)DFMFWing back or Attacking midfielderFWInside forwardMFFWAttacking midfielder / Second strikerFWCentre forwardFWCentre forward / Striker / False #9

Position Playing positions are listed according to the tactical formations that were employed at the time. Thus the more defensive emphasis in the responsibilities of many of the old forward and midfield positions, and their corresponding name changes, reflects the tactical evolution that occurred in the sport from the late 1960s onwards. The position listed is that in which the player played most frequently for the club.

The following information applies only to the table of "Historic players" listed in the next section:

Appearances and Goals Appearances and goals comprise those in the Football League (including test matches and play-offs), Premier League, FA Cup, Football League Cup, UEFA European Cup, UEFA Cup, FA Charity Shield, Associate Members' Cup/Football League Trophy, and several now-defunct competitions — namely the European Cup Winners' Cup, Anglo-Italian Cup, Anglo-Italian League Cup, Texaco Cup, Anglo-Scottish Cup and Full Members' Cup. Substitute appearances in any of the above included fixtures, and any goals scored as a substitute, are also included. Appearances or goals scored in testimonial matches, exhibition games, or in any abandoned fixtures, are excluded. Appearances in the 1939–40 Football League season (abandoned after three games because of the Second World War, and the records for which were expunged from official records), and any other matches played in wartime competitions, are excluded.

Statistics sourcing

All of the Player of the Year data in the table is sourced from the history pages of the Happy to be Blue! web site, which lists all award winners up to, and including, season 2011–12. All dates and numbers in the table are sourced from a hardcover book published in 2006 according to the inclusion / exclusion rules stated above. The individual table entries of a number of these players have subsequently been sourced from the web wherever possible. In the case of players whose football careers at Manchester City spanned either of the two world wars, the choice of which appearances, during and either side of the wartime period, are included in the "official" tally of games played may cause discrepancies with other possible sources of similar data for those particular players. Likewise, how competitions such as the Charity Shield, Anglo-Scottish Cup and the Texaco Cup are handled by other sources will also create discrepancies with the numbers included in the table below.

Currency The statistics are correct as of the beginning of 2004.

The following information applies only to the table of "Contemporary players" listed in the next section:

Appearances and goals Appearances and goals are broken out into four column pairs, with the rightmost column pair depicting the respective totals of the appearances and goals shown in the three leftmost column pairs. The appearances and goals listed under the "League" column pair heading comprise those in the top two tiers of the Football League (including any Football League play-off games) and the Premier League. The appearances and goals listed under the "Cups" column pair heading comprise only those in the FA Cup and Football League Cup. The appearances and goals listed under the "Other" column pair heading comprise those in the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup, the FA Community Shield, and the Football League Trophy. Substitute appearances in any of the above included fixtures, and any goals scored as a substitute, are also included. Appearances or goals scored in testimonial matches, exhibition games, or in any abandoned fixtures, are excluded.

Statistics sourcing Most of the Player of the Year data in the following table (and elsewhere in this article) is sourced from the history pages of the Happy to be Blue! web site, which lists all award winners up to, and including, season 2011–12. Winners of the PotY award since 2012 are individually cited from elsewhere on the web. Most of the dates and numbers in the table are sourced from the Soccerbase online database as indicated by the individual cited reference notes for each of the players. The remainder are sourced from Gary James' book. However, Soccerbase has a few issues. It seems to identify all player appearances and goals scored in Community Shield fixtures on an individual season basis, but does not necessarily include all those appearances in the total appearances tally of certain players. Regardless, the core match data on which those tallies are sometimes mis-totalled is quite sound and accessible in alternative ways, and thus can be used to (self-)correct the database's own tallying errors if properly footnoted. Goals later reassigned by the Premier League "Dubious Goals Committee" also tend to get overlooked by Soccerbase. Some goals that have never even come before the DGC have been misattributed to other players despite the rest of the football media correctly attributing them. Whatever the source of the discrepancy it can be addressed by footnote reference to alternative match reports for the games in question – which correctly attribute the dubious goal(s) – and by providing links to documentation of the pertinent DGC reassignment findings elsewhere on the web.

Currency The statistics are correct as of the last match of the 2022–23 season, which was played on 10 June 2023.

List of players The list of Manchester City players with over 100 appearances, or winners of "Player of the Year" award, is presented below in two tables. The first table lists all the club's historic players, providing only the basic "appearances" and "goals" totals for each of them. The second table groups together the club's most recent players, providing a more detailed breakdown of their "appearances" and "goals" statistics (and with the current players highlighted in blue for easy reference).

Historic players