Who held out a record number of seasons?
From 1966 - when England became world champion, and the gate was played by Gordon Banks, until 1997, when the power and popularity of nuclear submarines, Peter Shilton played football. Now an ex-goaler is 70 years old, and he has the keys to heaven for those who can last 30 seasons in football.
- Such a man is still only one - Peter himself has lasted 31 seasons, playing up to the venerable 48 years. But when Tommy Hutchison knocked on the door and asked him to let in, Shilton counted the seasons of the Scotsman and scored only 29, one for a unique pass was not enough.
- But 25 seasons were also incredibly long. So long-lasted Senny, James, Sheringham, and Rivaldo played for so long that he managed to catch his son in football, and in Uzbekistan, he took him to the field of Shomurodov - the Brazilian 26 years did not stop, as well as Essam El Khadari.
- The Egyptian goalkeeper is still in play, as is Marcelinho of Herta, who has 27 seasons behind him. Against their background Casillas and Roberto Carlos - on 21 seasons, Javi and Zanetti - on 22, or Buffon - 24 seasons, seem to be "young men". But if we're looking for real Senseis, we should also count the number of matches.
Who collected the record for matches in the history of football?
You already know the name - Peter Shilton, the goalkeeper of England and many clubs, and played 31 years, gathered 1,390 matches. World record, which can be broken, but you have to try hard. Even Rogerio Seni, although we are talking about a goalkeeper who played 1,234 games, could not get close to the Englishman.
On the other hand, the goalkeeper has 129 goals - almost as many as Havbeck Havi, who follows. The young coach gave the game in 1,135 matches for Barcelona, various Spanish national teams and his Qatari club. And kind of ahead of Carlos on three matches. But this is not true, because Roberto is from those times when the statistics in football was not a science.
So, Shilton, Seni, Javi and Carlos are the first four. But who goes on? So far, Iker Casillas. If the doctors allow him to play a couple more games for Porto after a heart attack, he will have a chance to be in the top three - 17 games left to beat Javi. As you can see, great players and legends play the longest.
And, interestingly enough, not always goalkeepers! Only half of the world's top 10 goalkeepers are goalkeepers, but even Buffon is only in 8th place. Above him, the goalkeeper Clemens and Tractor Zanetti played more than a couple of matches. But Gigi will soon be ahead of him if he goes out so often at Juventus.
In the club career, the Italian played 903 matches - broke the record of Italy, which belonged to Paolo Maldini. In total, Buffon now has 1,103 professional matches, which is 11 less than the former captain of Inter. And this legend, it seems, will eventually be able to outrun, because Sarry is a fan of Gianluigi.
But closes the top ten guardsmen in the history of football, the only one who in this company can not be called a world-class player - Tony Ford. He had 120 goals and 1,082 matches in English clubs, played from 1975 to 2001, 25 seasons, but only twice in the late eighties volunteered for the second team of England.
Given that in the second decade of Jalma Santos, Raul, Marseignon, Alan Ball (world champion 1966), Simen, Lampard, Maldini and Giggs - all more than 1,000 matches for a career, the "Club of 1000" is mainly for real legends. In the history of football, there are only 29 players who have a thousand or more career matches. Could have been more, but Thierry Henry and Romario played 994 matches each - they couldn't make it to their jubilees.
Which of the current players dreams of the top?
As you know, Buffon has no chance to catch up with Peter Shilton - we need 287 matches. Gianluigi will not go to a weak championship, just to break the record, especially given how old he is and how much more he needs to play for the record. Casillas has more important things to do - to help his sick wife morally and to save his heart.
Matteus, Figo, Sheringham, Ze Roberto, Czech Republic, Bobby Moore and Dzoff are among the unique clubs of those who have played more than 950 matches at a high level, and there are only 51 such people in the history of football. Very little that underlines once again how difficult it is to remain a professional for more than two decades. We need to be in demand, warm up with injuries, not to lose motivation.
14 people in this elite club are goalkeepers because it's objectively easier for them to play up to forty and later, while it's hard for a forward of this age to perform at a high level. Unless it's about Zlatan, though even Ibrahimovich is still sawing and sawing to play a thousandth match in his career, up to his 38th birthday in a few days, he won't have time to do it.
In principle, Shilton's record could have been called "eternal" and settled down if not for one person who is obsessed with football enough not only to catch up with the English goalkeeper but also to get around Peter. Of course, we need to take into account the position factor - the challenger attacks, health - began to miss matches to rest, and the level - Ronaldo does not play in the U.S. and did not go to China, but the Portuguese has a chance.
Cristiano, if he can stand up to 42 years in professional football, can gain 400 more matches for the clubs and the national team. Although for the sake of such a record you need to go where you can play a lot, but at low speed - in Serie A such a record is not to break, except to become the second Francesco Totti, only at Juventus. By the way, besides Ronaldo, two other players have a chance to go underground and climb into the top ten.
We are talking about the Japanese Hawbek Yasuhito Endo - many years of playing for one club, and at 39 years old he did not quite yet with the national team, and about goalkeeper Fabio - he is 38, and since 2005 he has been working in the gate "Cruzeiro". Of course, the results of the team can put the goalkeeper on the bench, but if he repeats the trick of Marcelinho - he saws in Brazil until the age of 44 years, then theoretically he could become the most experienced footballer in the history of football, playing more than Shilton.
How often do you play no-names for a thousand matches?
All the above-mentioned legends of their clubs, national teams and football in general. Of course, you can not compare the contribution to the game Endo and Zeodorf - now they are next to each other in the list, had more than 1,000 matches each. And if Fabio's goalkeeper plays more than Ronaldo's forward, the value of the second one will not fall by a single millimetre. But such lists are illustrative and useful for understanding the game.
Firstly, their participants serve as an example - there are only a few dozen fanatics in the history who have kept their form at its peak for decades. Second, the length of the list emphasizes the uniqueness of such stories. Only 29 people have played more than 1,000 matches, and the 44-year-old Englishman Jamie Cureton may become the thirtieth in the near future - on the way to the thousandth match, and also scores a lot.
But much less than Romario, Ronaldo, Raúl, Henri and Rivaldo - the Guardians, who came up with more than 400 goals in a career. Both forwards and defensemen and midfielders come across, and the goalkeepers themselves ordered to glow at a high level for a long time, with which the same Buffon copes perfectly. Gianluigi is a football legend, but don't think he's tired. The Italian goalkeeper is proud and happy that he got to 903 matches in the club career as a high-level player.
It is noteworthy that 31 of the list of fifty people - mega stars of football - are at once. The levels of Zoffa, Rivaldo, Czech Republic, Figo, Henri, Zedorf, Maldini, Lampard, Zanetti, Javi, Casillas or Buffon. Three dozen masters, like Gianluigi, were able to play more than nine hundred professional matches, not dragging their feet at a low level, but playing with their heads high. Titans with world football on their shoulders!