Marco Ballotta
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| Marco Ballotta | ||
 |
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | April 3, 1964 | |
| Place of birth | Casalecchio di Reno, Italy | |
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 111⁄2 in) | |
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Lazio | |
| Number | 32 | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| 1981-1982 | Bologna | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1982-1984 1984-1990 1991 1991-1994 1994-1995 1995-1997 1997-2000 2000-2001 2001-2004 2004-2005 2005-present |
San Lazzaro Modena Cesena Parma Brescia Reggiana Lazio Internazionale Modena Treviso Lazio |
22 (0) 178 (0) 5 (0) 33 (0) 32 (0) 72 (0) 13 (0) 6 (0) 88 (0) 37 (0) 42 (0) |
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1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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Marco Ballotta (born 3 April 1964 in Casalecchio di Reno, Emilia Romagna) is an Italian football goalkeeper who plays for Italian Serie A club Lazio. He holds the distinction of being the oldest player ever to appear in either Serie A or the UEFA Champions League.
His club career has spanned a quarter of a century, but he was never capped for the Italian national team.
[edit] Career
Ballotta cut his footballing teeth with Bologna F.C.'s youth side before starting his professional career in 1983 with hometown club A.C. Boca San Lazzaro, making 22 first-team appearances over two seasons before moving to Modena F.C., where he remained for the next six years. In January 1991, he transferred to A.C. Cesena, but only stayed for six months before he was purchased by Parma F.C.
Ballotta was in top form during the 1992-93 campaign, as Parma won the Cup Winners' Cup and finished third in Serie A. However, his momentum did not carry over into the next season and he only made three league appearances. He did start both legs in Parma's 2-1 aggregate win over A.C. Milan in the European Super Cup, but was benched in favor of Luca Bucci for the 1994 Cup Winners' Cup final.
He signed with Brescia Calcio the following season, but Brescia were relegated in his lone stint with the club. Ballotta spent the next campaign in Serie B with A.C. Reggiana 1919, with whom he returned to the first division in 1996. However, Reggiana's stay in Italy's top flight was brief, and Ballotta left for Lazio for the 1997-98 season as the club's third choice goalkeeper.
After three seasons with the biancocelesti, he enjoyed a brief stint with Inter in 2000-01, during which he rejoined Modena on loan during the season to help the club gain promotion to Serie A, and signed with them permanently in 2002, where he remained until Modena were relegated to Serie B for the 2004-05 season, which Ballotta spent with second-division squad Treviso in 2004-05. Despite their fifth-place finish in the cadetti race, Treviso were promoted in place of Genoa after the latter were demoted to Serie C1 following a match-fixing scandal, and Ballotta was once again back in Serie A, this time as a player with Lazio.
He made eight starts during the 2005-06 season as an injury replacement for both Angelo Peruzzi and Matteo Sereni. On October 23, 2005, Ballotta set the record as the oldest player to have played in the first division when he started in Lazio's lineup against Roma at the age of 41 years and 203 days to beat the previous record, set on May 7, 1983 (when Dino Zoff played his last game at the age of 41 years and 34 days).
Due to Peruzzi's ongoing injury problems the following season, Ballotta made eleven league appearances as Lazio finished third behind runaway winner Inter and A.S. Roma and clinched a Champions League berth. Peruzzi retired at the end of the season, at 37.
Ballotta started the first two matches of the 2007-08 campaign until the gloves were handed to new acquisition Fernando Muslera for the next five league matches. Following Lazio's embarrassing 5-1 home loss to Milan on 7 October 2007, Ballotta regained the starting spot, which he kept until the end of the campaign. He also started all of Lazio's Champions League matches, in which he also became the oldest player ever to play in the competition, during a 1-1 draw with Olympiakos on September 18, 2007, at the age of 43 years and 168 days, beating the previous record held by another Italian, Alessandro Costacurta, who was 40 years and 211 days during Milan's loss to AEK Athens on November 21, 2006.
[edit] References
- Parma outgun brave Antwerp - UEFA.com, 8/17/2001
- Arsenal frustrate Parma's double hopes - UEFA.com, 8/17/01
- Ballotta sets new European record - UEFA.com, 9/18/07
- Lazio To Continue With Ballotta - Goal.com, 10/9/07
[edit] External links
- European Super Cup - footballsite.co.uk
- Career Statistics - Profile at Lazio's web (Italian)
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