Paolo Maldini

He was ranked 21st in World Soccer magazine's list of the 100 greatest players of the 20th century.

Paolo Cesare Maldini (born 26 June 1968) is an Italian former professional footballer who played primarily as a left-back and centre-back for AC Milan and the Italy national team.

He is widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders of all time.

As the Milan and Italy captain for many years he was nicknamed "Il Capitano".

He won the Coppa Italia Primavera with the Milan Youth side during the 1984–85 season, and he made his league debut for Milan under manager Nils Liedholm during the same season on 20 January 1985, replacing the injured Sergio Battistini in a match against Udinese at age 16.

It was his only league appearance of the campaign, but he was immediately made a member of the starting eleven the following season, at age 17, at right-back, being handed the number 3 shirt, which had previously also belonged to his father, Cesare.

Maldini also made his Coppa Italia debut in 1985, on 21 August, while his debut in European competition also came later that same year, on 18 September.

He scored the first of his 29 goals in Serie A on 4 January 1987 in a 1–0 win against Como.

The 1987–88 Scudetto under Arrigo Sacchi marked Maldini's first trophy, and the first of seven league titles, with the club.

Nicknamed "The Immortals", Sacchi's Milan side is remembered for including the Dutch trio of Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten, as well as the Italian midfielders Carlo Ancelotti, Roberto Donadoni (and later Demetrio Albertini), and a strong defensive lineup.

Under Sacchi and later Fabio Capello, Maldini formed with long-timers Franco Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta, Mauro Tassotti, as well as Filippo Galli, Stefano Nava and later Christian Panucci, one of football's strongest defensive quartets of all time.

During the 1987–88 Serie A season, Milan only conceded 14 goals, finishing with the best defence in Italy, as they went on to win the Serie A title.

Maldini made his debut for Italy in 1988, playing for 14 years before retiring in 2002 with 7 goals and 126 caps, an appearance record at the time, which has since been surpassed by Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluigi Buffon.

Maldini captained Italy for eight years and held the record for appearances as Italy's captain (75), until he was again overtaken by Cannavaro and Buffon.

With Italy, Maldini took part in four FIFA World Cups and three UEFA European Championships.

Maldini went on to win the 1988 Supercoppa Italiana with Milan the following season, and followed up this trophy with back to back European Cup titles in 1988–89 and 1989–90, while Milan finished in third and in second place in Serie A during those respective seasons.

On 19 February 1989, Maldini made his 100th appearance in Serie A.

Milan reached the final of the 1989–90 Coppa Italia, losing out to Juventus.

Milan also managed to capture successive European Super Cup titles in 1989 and 1990, as well as successive Intercontinental Cup titles, once again 1989 and 1990.

The following season, in Sacchi's final season with the club, Milan were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the European Cup by eventual finalists Marseille, and finished second in Serie A, behind Sampdoria, once again with the best defence in the league, conceding only 19 goals.

Milan reached the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia, losing out to eventual champions Roma.

In 1989, Maldini was awarded the Bravo Award, as the best under-23 player in European Competitions.

Under Sacchi's replacement, Fabio Capello, Milan continued to be a dominant force in Italy and in Europe.

Maldini was also part of Milan's undefeated Serie A team, which won the championship in the 1991–92 season; in total, Milan went unbeaten for an Italian record of 58 league matches, earning the nickname "The Invincibles".

Although he did not win a tournament with Italy, he reached the final of the 1994 World Cup and Euro 2000, and the semi-final of the 1990 World Cup and Euro 1988.

He also placed third in the Ballon d'Or in 1994 and 2003.

Maldini came second to George Weah for FIFA World Player of the Year in 1995.

He was elected into the all-star teams for each of these tournaments, in addition to Euro 1996.

In 2002, he was chosen as a defender on the FIFA World Cup Dream Team, and in 2004 Pelé named him in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.

Maldini won the Best Defender trophy at the UEFA Club Football Awards at the age of 39, as well as the Serie A Defender of the Year Award in 2004.

Following his retirement after the 2008–09 season, Milan retired his number 3 shirt.

Maldini spent all 25 seasons of his playing career in the Serie A with Milan, before retiring at the age of 41 in 2009.

He won 26 trophies with Milan: the European Cup/UEFA Champions League five times, seven Serie A titles, one Coppa Italia, five Supercoppa Italiana titles, five European/UEFA Super Cups, two Intercontinental Cups and one FIFA Club World Cup.

In December 2012, he was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame.

Originally a AC Milan youth squad product, Maldini also went on to play his entire club career with the senior side.

Maldini held the record for most appearances in UEFA Club competitions, with 174, until he was overtaken by Iker Casillas in 2017.

He is the record appearance holder for Milan with 902 appearances in all competitions, and is one of the few players to have made over 1,000 career appearances.

Maldini held the record for most appearances in Serie A, with 647 (until 2020, when he was overtaken by Gianluigi Buffon) and holds the joint-record for most European Cup/UEFA Champions League final appearances (8) alongside Paco Gento.

He most recently served as technical director for Milan, as well as being co-owner of USL Championship club Miami FC.

He was also selected for the Ballon d'Or Dream Team in 2020.