00:02It takes a world-class player like Lothar Matthäus to play week in week out from the age of 18
00:08all the way to 39 and to amass 21 years at football's highest level.
00:16It's tough to determine the length of the average footballer's career.
00:20Many start their journey in the youth ranks before abandoning the path by about age 22.
00:27Of those who play on into their mid-20s, their careers could last up to 15 years.
00:33Some have been known to play into their 40s.
00:37Like that other big sporting event, the World Cup is held once every four years.
00:44So a healthy 10 to 12-year career at the highest level is usually only enough to play two or
00:49three World Cups.
00:52There are some who have played in four, but only six players have ever played in five.
00:58That includes Matthäus, who left France 98 as the World Cup appearance record holder.
01:04With a record of eight league titles and 14 cup competition wins, plus his two international trophies, his career could
01:12be considered an impressive feat based on those numbers alone.
01:17Add 28 personal awards and honours, it's clear just how big his presence on the field was.
01:25In his autobiography, Diego Maradona gave Matthäus the biggest compliment he could give another player, saying,
01:32Lothar was the best rival I had in my whole career, while Pele branded the German one of the best
01:39that football has ever seen.
01:42But the unfortunate reality is that Matthäus' outspoken personality caused feuds with quite a number of colleagues.
01:50Most notably, Lothar butted heads with German national team captain Jürgen Klinsmann and head coach Bertie Foltz, which saw him
01:58removed from the squad for the 1996 Euros that Germany went on to win.
02:051994 was supposed to be the sweeper's last international outing, but against all odds, he turned up at France 98
02:12as a replacement for the injured sweeper Matthias Sammer, another great from that generation.
02:19Matthäus came on as a substitute against Yugoslavia to set a new record for the tournament with his 22nd appearance.
02:26He would go on to play in all of Germany's matches that followed, with Croatia knocking them out at the
02:32quarter-finals, staking his record for the most matches played at the World Cup at 25.
02:39It took a player of the stature of Lionel Messi to overhaul Matthäus' mark, notching appearance 26 in the perfect
02:47fashion, leading Argentina to World Cup final glory.
02:54It's a testament to Matthäus' consistency and longevity that even Messi had to work hard to overhaul it.
03:02A relentless and fierce competitor, Lothar Matthäus' story is the World Cup's story.
03:08And even without the game's record, nothing can change his brilliant legacy.
03:13All right, that's a lot of fun for it.
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