Paolo Cesare Maldini was born in Milan, Italy on June 26, 1968. Paolo's father Cesare formerly played for and captained Milan, and was a successful national under-21 manager, who also coached both Milan, and the senior national side during France 1998.
Maldini made his debut for Italy in 1988, enjoying a 14-year career before retiring in 2002 with 7 goals and 126 caps, an appearance record at the time, which has since only been topped by Fabio Cannavaro in 2009 and Gianluigi Buffon in 2013. Maldini captained Italy for eight years and held the record for appearances made as Italy's captain, wearing the armband 74 times, until he was once again overtaken by Cannavaro, in 2010, and subsequently Buffon. With Italy, Maldini took part in three UEFA European Championship and four FIFA World Cups. 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 was elected into the all-star teams for each of these tournaments, in addition to Euro 1996.
Maldini was also the Milan and Italy captain for many years and was considered a leader by fellow footballers, leading to the nickname "Il Capitano" ("The Captain"). Maldini holds the records for most appearances in Serie A, with 647, and also held the record for most appearances in UEFA Club competitions, with 174, until he was overtaken by Iker Casillas, who made his 175th European club appearance in 2017. He is also the record appearance holder for Milan with 902 appearances in all competitions.
He played at a world class level for his entire career spanning two-and-a-half decades. He spent all 25 seasons of his career in the Serie A with Milan, before retiring at the age of 41 in 2009.
Paolo Maldini is one of the best defenders in the world. He is one of only 18 players to have made over 1,000 career appearances. He became a symbol and legend of the club.
He won 25 trophies with Milan while in the squad: the UEFA Champions League five times, seven Serie A titles, one Coppa Italia, five Supercoppa Italiana titles, four European Super Cups, two Intercontinental Cups and one FIFA Club World Cup.
He 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. He came second to George Weah for the FIFA World Player of the Year award in 1995. Maldini also placed third in the Ballon d'Or on two occasions, in 1994 and 2003. In 1999, he was voted 21st in World Soccer's list of the 100 greatest football players of the 20th century. In 2002, he was chosen as a defender on the FIFA World Cup Dream Team, and in 2004 he was named in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.
Following his retirement after the 2008–09 season, his lifelong club Milan retired his number 3 shirt in his honour, and in December 2012, he was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame.
Quotations:
"If I have to make a tackle then I have already made a mistake."
"Every professional footballer should seek to play at least one game at Celtic Park. I have never felt anything like it."
"When I see Messi play, in my opinion, he should win the Ballon d'Or every year. He is an unbelievable player."
"I can say that Thiago Silva has no rival in his position. He is by far the best defender in the world. It’s a compliment for me to be compared to him."
"I like Pique a lot. He has class. He knows how to defend and also how to score. He is perfect in a duo with Carles Puyol."
Quotes from others about the person
"I always found it very difficult when I came up against Paolo Maldini. He was the best defender I faced over the course of my career. He definitely deserved to win the award FIFA World Player of the Year several times over."
— Ronaldo.
He has been married to Venezuelan former model Adriana Fossa since December 1994. The couple have two sons, Christian (born 14 June 1996) and Daniel (born 12 October 2001), who both have been signed by Maldini's former club Milan and played in the youth teams.
Football manager and former player with AC Milan. His position was centre back. Maldini represented Italy in the 1962 and 1966 World Cups.
He was born on June 14 , 1996.
He was born on October 12, 2001.
