The Far Post Header ‘Hall of Fame’ No.6 – Paolo Maldini
If you ask any football fan to name three of the greatest left-backs of all-time, the name Paolo Maldini will almost certainly get a mention.
The Italian was only ever played for one club, playing 902 times for AC Milan between 1985 and 2009.
Paolo Maldini could play equally well as a centre-back or left-back. He made his debut for AC Milan at the age of 16, replacing the injured Sergio Battistini in a Serie A match against Udinese on the 20th January 1985.
Over the course of the next 24 years, Maldini won 20 trophies with the Rossoneri, including seven Serie A titles and lifting the Champions League five times.
He also played 126 times for Italy, making his first appearance for the Azzuri in 1988 and winning his last cap in 2002. In those fourteen years, Maldini played in four World Cups and three European Championships.
He never won a major trophy with in the blue of Italy, but did reach the final of the 1994 World Cup and Euro 2000.
Paolo Maldini’s father Cesare also played for and captained AC Milan, also playing as a defender. He coached the Italian national side in the 1998 World Cup and the Paraguay side four years later in the Finals in Japan and South Korea.
Maldini is one of only eighteen players to ever played more than 1,000 matches in their career. Other players on this list include Pele, Peter Shilton, Pat Jennings and Raul.
AC Milan retired Maldini’s number 3 shirt after his last game for the club on 31st May 2009. The club said that they will only give the shirt number to one of his son’s if they ever made the AC Milan first team.
Maldini is currently AC Milan’s Technical Director, having previously worked at the club as the Sporting Strategy & Development Director. He has only been back at the San Siro since August 2018, nine years after retiring as a player
It was announced on 21st March that both he and his son Daniel had tested positive for the Covid-19 virus.
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