Paolo Maldini

1978–1987: Youth career, AC Milan senior debut and early professional career In 1978, at the age of 10, Maldini had his first tryout for AC Milan youth academy. Before that, he had only played street football. He successfully played the test game as a right midfielder or winger in the 4–4–2 formation and was accepted into his age group's squad. He would continue playing in this position until the age of 14, when he was moved to right full-back. Due to him being good on the ball with both of his feet, he would sometimes be fielded on the left side as well. Maldini 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. in a 1–0 win against Como. 1987–1991: Domestic and international success with The immortals 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 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. This championship was Milan's first of three consecutive Serie A titles under Capello in the early 1990s. Maldini helped Milan defend the Serie A title the following season, and reach the first of three consecutive UEFA Champions League finals. Milan lost the 1993 Champions League final in a 1–0 defeat to Marseille. That season, Maldini scored his first goal in European Competitions on 21 October 1992 in a 1–0 Champions League win against Slovan Bratislava, After winning his third Champions League title and reaching the 1994 World Cup final, Maldini became the first defender ever to win World Soccer magazine's annual World Player of the Year Award. During his acceptance speech, Maldini called his milestone "a particular matter of pride because defenders generally receive so much less attention from fans and the media than goalscorers. We are more in the engine room rather than taking the glory". He then singled out Milan captain Franco Baresi as a player who "really [deserved] to receive the sort of award I have received". The following season, Maldini lined up with Alessandro Nesta, Alessandro Costacurta and Cafu, who, along with Jaap Stam during the 2004–05 season, formed a formidable defensive lineup in Italy and in Europe. Milan finished third in Serie A, but Maldini won the first Coppa Italia of his career, defeating Roma in the final. He and his father are only one of three other father-son pairs to have also done so; the others being Manuel and Manolo Sanchís of Real Madrid, and Carles and Sergio Busquets of Barcelona. Maldini was elected Man of the Match and was named in the UEFA Team of the Year for the first time in his career. Maldini was also included in the FIFA 100 list in 2004, which was a selection of the 125 greatest living footballers, chosen by Pelé. Following his Series A-winning performances, Maldini was elected to be the Serie A Defender of the Year in 2004 at the Italian footballing Awards. seven days earlier, he had played his 800th game in all competitions for Milan. That season, Maldini captained Milan to their third Champions League final in six years, leading them to a 2–1 victory over Liverpool in the final on 23 May 2007 in Athens, avenging their defeat from 2005. At age 38, Maldini became the oldest captain to lift the Champions League trophy. Maldini participated in eight Champions League finals during his career, which is equalled only by Francisco Gento of Real Madrid; Maldini lifted the trophy five times, twice as captain. In an interview with ESPN aired prior to the 2007 final, Maldini labeled the 2005 Champions League final as the worst moment of his career. A match where he scored the fastest-ever goal in a European Cup final after 51 seconds and became the oldest player ever to score in a final, Milan lost on penalties to Liverpool after leading 3–0 at half-time. Maldini was elected the UEFA Club Defender of the Year for his 2007 performances. Following Milan's elimination from the Champions League by Arsenal in March, however, Maldini stated that he would possibly delay his retirement for at least a further year. He signed an extension on 6 June that kept him at Milan for the 2008–09 season. 2008–2009: Final years and retirement On 16 February 2008, in a match against Parma at the Stadio Ennio Tardini, Maldini came on for defender Marek Jankulovski to make his 1,000th professional career appearance, of which 861 were with Milan, 12 with the Italy under-21 side, 1 with the Italian Olympic team and 126 with the Italy senior team. In European football, only the English goalkeeper Peter Shilton had collected more appearances at the time: 1,390 between 1966 and 1997. Maldini played his last game in the Champions League on 4 March 2008, a 2–0 loss at the San Siro in the last 16 against Arsenal which eliminated Milan from the 2007–08 Champions League. In 2008, Maldini was awarded the FIFA Order of Merit, as well as the Premio Internazionale Giacinto Facchetti, which is awarded to a player who was demonstrated both skill and fair play throughout his career. On 18 April 2009, Maldini announced that he would retire at the end of the 2008–09 season. His last appearance for Milan, and his last game as an active player, was a 2–0 win against Fiorentina on 31 May 2009 in the last match of the Serie A season. This win meant Milan finished in third place and qualified for the following season's Champions League. Maldini was once again given a standing ovation by the fans. As they had previously done with Franco Baresi's number 6 shirt, Milan retired Maldini's number 3 shirt, but stated that it will be bequeathed to one of his sons if one of them were to make the club's senior team. On 28 August 2009 in Monte Carlo, Maldini was awarded a prize for his career by UEFA during the draw for the group stage of the 2009–10 Champions League. On 17 November 2009, Spanish sports newspaper Marca awarded Maldini the "Marca Leyenda" prize for his career and achievements. ==International career==

Early career and 1990 World Cup In 1986, Maldini was called up by his father Cesare Maldini to the Italian under-21 national team, and made his debut for the team on 12 November of that year, in a 0–0 draw against Austria; he earned 12 caps and scored five goals in two years with the azzurrini, Maldini made his senior debut for the Italy senior team at age 19 on 31 March 1988 in a 1–1 friendly draw against Yugoslavia in Split, and made one appearance for the Italy Olympic squad on 28 October 1987, In the opening match of the tournament on 10 June, a 1–1 draw against hosts West Germany, he became the youngest player ever to feature for Italy at the UEFA European Championship, at the age of 19 years and 350 days. Maldini participated in his first World Cup in 1990 on home soil, appearing in all seven Italy matches. He helped Italy to win five consecutive games and was a starting member of the defence that kept a FIFA World Cup record of five consecutive clean sheets. The Italian defence eventually conceded an equalising goal in the semi-final match against Carlos Bilardo's Argentina, after going a World Cup record total of 518 minutes without conceding. Following two periods of extra time, in which neither team was able to score, Italy lost out to Argentina on penalties. Italy eventually placed third after defeating England 2–1 in the third-place final match, and finishing the tournament with the best defence having conceded two goals throughout the entire World Cup. Maldini was elected to be part of the Team of the Tournament. The following year, Italy reached the final of Euro 2000, but lost once again to defending World Cup champions France in extra time. Maldini played in all six of Italy's matches during the tournament. Italy topped their group, winning every match, and Maldini, starting alongside Fabio Cannavaro and Alessandro Nesta, helped the Italian defence to concede only two goals en route to the final, keeping clean sheets against co-hosts Belgium in the group stage, Romania in the quarter-finals and co-hosts the Netherlands in the semi-finals. A ten-man Italy advanced to the final on penalties after a 0–0 draw with the Dutch following extra time. Although Maldini missed his penalty, Italy won the shootout 3–1. Italy were leading 1–0 in the final until Sylvain Wiltord equalised in the final minute of stoppage time. David Trezeguet scored the golden goal in the 103rd minute, in extra time. In all of the three UEFA European Championships in which Maldini participated, he was elected to be part of the team of the tournament for his performances. Maldini played in his fourth World Cup, and his second as captain, in the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan. He helped Italy keep a clean sheet in their opening win against Ecuador, and played in all four of Italy's matches. Italy disappointed in the remaining group matches, but went on to the knockout round as the second placed team of their group. On 18 June, immediately after a ten-man Italy were controversially eliminated in the round of sixteen, by a golden goal, to co-hosts South Korea, Maldini retired from international football, at the age of 34, as Italy's most capped player. until he was overtaken by Cannavaro, and subsequently Buffon. Despite his performances for his country, Maldini was unable to win a trophy, although he reached the final of both the World Cup and the European Championship. Maldini made 23 appearances in World Cups, the third-highest total after Lothar Matthäus, who appeared in 25 matches and Lionel Messi, who appeared in 26 matches. Maldini once held the record for most minutes played at the FIFA World Cup (2,217 minutes), which was also later broken by Messi at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. In February 2009, Italian head coach Marcello Lippi declared his support for a testimonial match for Maldini, stating that it would give him a chance to play for the Azzurri for a final time. The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) offered him a place in the line-up in a friendly match against Northern Ireland. Maldini, however, rejected the offer, saying that he wanted to part with football in an "official" match. ==After retirement==

Prior to his retirement, Maldini stated that he wouldn't become a coach. He was offered a position that would have reunited him with his former coach Carlo Ancelotti by joining Chelsea as a coach. Maldini had met up with Ancelotti and with Chelsea's owner, Roman Abramovich, to discuss such a possibility. Ancelotti later revealed that Maldini had turned down the offer. In 2012, Maldini was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame. Maldini played in the 11th Match Against Poverty on 4 March 2014 alongside other footballers such as Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Luís Figo, and Pavel Nedvěd, which was held in Bern, Switzerland, with the proceeds being donated to the recovery efforts in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan. On 1 September 2014, Maldini, along with other footballers, took part in the "Match for Peace", which was played at the Stadio Olimpico, Rome, with the proceeds being donated to charity. In May 2015, Maldini became the co-owner of North American Soccer League (NASL) club Miami FC alongside television rights entrepreneur Riccardo Silva, in hope that the club could join the Major League Soccer (MLS) in the future. On 1 May 2016, Maldini became the second player after Southampton's Matthew Le Tissier to receive the One Club Award from La Liga club Athletic Bilbao; he was presented with the prize at half-time, during the club's 2–1 home win over Celta de Vigo, and received a standing ovation from the attending fans. Tennis In June 2017, Maldini and his tennis partner Stefano Landonio qualified for the Aspria Tennis Cup in Milan, a professional tennis tournament on the ATP Challenger Tour, after winning a qualifier in Italy. They were defeated in the first round by Tomasz Bednarek and David Pel by a score of 6–1, 6–1. After the defeat, Maldini stated that it was his last professional tennis match. ==Executive career==

In August 2018, a few weeks after Milan's changed their ownership to Elliott Management Corporation, Maldini accepted an offer to become the sporting director for the club. This marked his comeback to the club since his retirement from professional football. On 14 June 2019, Maldini was promoted to technical director. Milan won the 2021–22 Serie A title, the first title since 2011, with Maldini helping sign a number of key players for the victorious squad, namely Théo Hernandez, Pierre Kalulu, Rafael Leão, Olivier Giroud, Fikayo Tomori, and Mike Maignan, the latter of which was named the Best Goalkeeper of the 2021–22 season. In addition, Leão was awarded the MVP of the season. On 1 July 2022, one day after Maldini's contract expired, it was announced that he would remain Milan's technical director for two more years. On 17 November 2022, he was recognised as Sporting Director of the Year alongside fellow Milan director Frederic Massara at the 2022 Globe Soccer Awards. ==Player profile==

Style of play Although he played as a left-back for most of his career, Maldini was right-footed and began playing for Milan as a right-back. He was switched to the left-back position by manager Arrigo Sacchi due to Mauro Tassotti occupying the right side for Milan. Maldini was renowned for his aerial abilities, sliding tackles, speed, and stamina. He was also an excellent attacker, as he scored and assisted many goals throughout his career. In the final few years of his career, as he lost speed, he was moved to a centre-back position, where he excelled in relying on his experience, aerial abilities, and tackling to stop attackers. Maldini was renowned for his tactical intelligence and ability to anticipate threats from the opposition. Despite being a precise tackler and an imposing defensive presence, he often avoided committing to challenges when he deemed them unnecessary, preferring to restrict the offensive play of his opponents through his positioning and man-marking. His excellent passing allowed him to play in the sweeper or libero position. Legacy Maldini is widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders of all time and is referred to as "an icon and gentleman of the game". He was known for his calm and composed manner on the pitch, his ability to read the game, and his discipline on the pitch, as he only received three red cards throughout his entire career. In a 2002 FIFA poll, Maldini was named in the FIFA World Cup Dream Team. 's number 10 in the San Siro museum Maldini was the first defender to be shortlisted for the FIFA World Player of the Year award, finishing second in 1995. He also finished third in the Ballon d'Or rankings in 1994 and in 2003. In addition to his team success, he also won many individual awards, including the UEFA Defender of the Year, the Serie A Defender of the Year, the Bravo Award, and the World Soccer Player of the Year. He was also named in the UEFA Team of the Year, the FIFPro World XI, the World Cup Team of the Tournament, and the European Championship Team of the Tournament during his career. He was also renowned for his longevity, as he became a starter for Milan as a teenager and remained as a starter until his retirement at the age of 41. Throughout his career, Maldini was also a leader and captain for Milan and for the Italy national team, earning the nickname "Il Capitano" ("The Captain"). He was renowned for his vocal and commanding presence on the pitch and his ability to motivate his teammates and ensure they remained in position. until again being surpassed by Cannavaro. Maldini has inspired many defenders like Rio Ferdinand, Rafael Márquez and Carles Puyol. ==Media==

Maldini has appeared in commercials for American sportswear company Nike. He wore Nike Tiempo football boots at the 1994 FIFA World Cup. In 1996, he starred in a Nike commercial titled "Good vs Evil" in a gladiatorial game set in a Roman amphitheatre. Appearing alongside other footballers such as Ronaldo, Eric Cantona, Luís Figo, Patrick Kluivert, and Jorge Campos, they defend "the beautiful game" against a team of demonic warriors. Maldini states, "Maybe they're friendly?" before they begin "destroying evil", with Cantona striking the ball at the warriors. Maldini has featured in EA Sports' FIFA video game series; he was on the cover of the Italian edition of FIFA: Road to World Cup 98 and was an Ultimate Team Legend in FIFA 14. ==Personal life==

Maldini was born on 26 June 1968 in Milan to Cesare Maldini and Marisa Luisa De Mezzi. His family was of Slovenian descent. He has five siblings. In December 1994, he married Venezuelan former model Adriana Fossa. The couple have two sons, Christian (born 14 June 1996) and Daniel (born 11 October 2001), who both played for AC Milan's youth teams. His father Cesare played as a defender and also captained Milan and the Italy national team. Cesare then became a coach and coached his son in the Italy under-21 side, the Italy senior team, and the Milan senior team. On 3 April 2016, his father Cesare died at the age of 84; and his mother Marisa died on 28 July 2016. Maldini and his former teammate Christian Vieri run a fashion brand named Sweet Years. Maldini is a Roman Catholic. ==Career statistics==

Club International :''Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Maldini goal''. ==Honours==

AC Milan • Serie A: 1987–88, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1998–99, 2003–04 • Coppa Italia: 2002–03 • Supercoppa Italiana: 1992, 1993, 2004 • European Cup/UEFA Champions League: 1988–89, 1989–90, 1993–94, 2002–03, 2006–07; runner-up: 1992–93, 1994–95, 2004–05 • European/UEFA Super Cup: 1989, 1990, 1994, 2003 • Intercontinental Cup: 1989, 1990 • FIFA Club World Cup: 2007 Italy U21 Italy • FIFA World Cup runner-up: 1994; third place 1990 • UEFA European Championship runner-up: 2000 Individual • Serie A Team of The Year: 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993 • UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: 1988, 1996, 2000 • FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1990, 1994 • Ballon d'Or third place: 1994, 2003 • World Soccer Player of the Year: 1994 • El País European Player of the Year: 1994 • ESM Team of the Year: 1994–95, 1995–96, 1999–2000, 2002–03 • FIFA World Player of the Year silver award: 1995 • Onze de Bronze: 1995 • Onze de Onze: 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2003 • FIFA XI: 2002 • UEFA Champions League final Man of the Match: 2003 • Serie A Defender of the Year: 2004 • FIFA 100 • UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll: #10 • FIFPro World XI: 2005 • UEFA Club Defender of the Year: 2007 • Premio internazionale Giacinto Facchetti: 2008 • UEFA Champions League Achievement Award: 2009 • Marca Leyenda: 2009 • ESPN World Team of the Decade: 2009 • Inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2012 • World Soccer Greatest XI of all time: 2013 • World Soccer The Greatest Players of the 20th century: #21 • One Club Man Award: 2016 • UEFA Euro All-time XI • AC Milan Hall of Fame • Gazzetta Sports Awards – Legend: 2018 • Ballon d'Or Dream Team: 2020 • IFFHS All-time Men's Dream Team: 2021 • Globe Soccer Awards Sporting Director of the Year: 2022 Records • Most appearances in all competitions (Milan): 902 • Most UEFA club competitions appearances for Milan: 174 • Most UEFA club competitions appearances for the same club (Milan): 174 • Most European competitions appearances: 168 • Most European competitions appearances for AC Milan: 168 • Most UEFA Champions League appearances for AC Milan: 139 • Most finals played in UEFA Champions League – 8 (shared with Francisco Gento) • Longest-serving player (Milan): 24 years and 132 days (from 20 January 1985 to 31 May 2009) • Most FIFA World Cup appearances for Italy: 23 • Record of minutes played in the World Cups: 2216 • Fastest goal scored in UEFA Champions League/European Cup final history: 50 seconds, 2005 • Oldest player to score a goal in UEFA Champions League/European Cup final history: aged 36 years and 333 days, playing for Milan against Liverpool, 2005 • Most European/UEFA Super Cup titles: (shared with Dani Alves) (1989, 1990, 1994, 2003) • Most European/UEFA Super Cup final appearances: (shared with Dani Alves) (1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 2003) • Second-most career club appearances by an Italian player: 902 • Most appearances for a single Italian club: 902 (with Milan) Orders : 4th Class / Officer: Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana: 2000 : 5th Class / Knight: Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana: 1991 ==Notes==