A BRAZILIAN footballer has surpassed Peter Shilton’s longstanding record for most competitive appearances at professional level.
Last Saturday, Fluminense goalkeeper Fabio walked out onto the pitch for the 1,390th time – a 2-1 home win over Fortaleza in Brazil’s Serie A – which equalled former England stopper Shilton’s tally set 28 years ago.
And then on Tuesday evening at the Maracana stadium, he broke new ground in men’s football as he appeared in goal against Colombian outfit América de Cali – for match number 1,391 of his long career.
This was in the second leg of the last 16 of the Copa Sudamericana, which is the Europa League equivalent of South American club football.
Fabio finished the match on the winning side as they won 2-0 on the night and 4-1 on aggregate.
To mark the occasion, he celebrated with his family on the pitch as he was presented with a couple of mementoes.
In a professional career spanning 28 years, the 44-year-old has played senior games for Uniao Bandeirante (30), Vasco da Gama (150), Cruzeiro (976) and Fluminense (235).
Fabio, who turns 45 next month, may have begun his senior career five years after the advent of the English Premier League.
But remarkably, despite his unrivalled longevity, he has never had the privilege of donning the famous yellow Brazilian shirt in a competitive fixture.
A member of Brazil’s under-17s World Cup triumph in Egypt in 1997, he was an unused sub during the 2003 Fifa Confederations Cup campaign in France.
And he was on the bench the whole time as Carlos Alberto Parreira’s Brazil lifted the 2004 Copa America in Peru.
When he was asked about possibly breaking Shilton’s record, Fabio told Brazilian media: “God gave me this gift.
“I have to thank everyone who has been part of my life – my father, mother, sisters, friends, my wife…I try to be a good person.
“The important thing is to help my teammates. I am grateful, but without God nothing would be possible.
“These are difficult games and we are facing very strong teams. We are always striving to achieve our goals, which are the titles.”
Provided he is fit, Fabio could extend the record much further into the distance, especially as the Brazilian domestic league does not stop until December 21.
Fabio’s career by numbers
Here is a look at how the goalkeeper reached the record number of appearances…
União Bandeirante, 1997-2000
Vasco da Gama, 2000-2004
Cruzeiro, 1999 (loan) and 2005–2021
Fluminese, 2022–present
Total games: 1,391
Shilton, who played between 1966 and 1997, is acknowledged as the record holder for the most competitive men’s professional games, though the total is disputed.
Guinness World Records and a number of statistics websites say the tally is 1390.
Yet Shilton, 75, who played a record 125 times for England, claimed on social media that it should be 1387.
The discrepancy comes from Guinness officials including 16 unofficial games that Shilton does not include – while he includes 13 games he played for England’s Under-23s side that normally are not counted.
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