February 29 – A ranking of the players who have made the most domestic league appearances since the start of their adult career shows English Premier League players occupying 15 of the 20 age group categories.
The ranking by the CIES Football Observatory puts Spurs star Dele Alli top of the list of players born 1996 or later with 98 appearances and Norwich’s Nathan Redmond heads the 1994 list with 163 appearances.
At the other end of the age range Leicester’s Mark Schwartzer with 626 matches head the born 1977 or before list.
Two other goalkeepers have already played more than 600 championship games over their career: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus) and Kelvin Davis (Southampton).
Cristiano Ronaldo is second among players born in 1985 behind Bournemouth’s Simon Francis and ahead of Wayne Rooney.
The study looks at players in the Big 5 leagues in England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain and includes second team games.
The players listed below head the rankings for their age group:
Born in 1996 or after
Dele Alli, Tottenham, 98 matches
Born in 1995
Samu Castillejo, Villarreal, 129 matches
Born in 1994
Nathan Redmond, Norwich, 163 matches
Born in 1993
Romelu Lukaku, Everton, 210 matches
Born in 1992
Koke Resurrección, Atlético Madrid, 236 matches
Born in 1991
Eden Hazard, Chelsea, 277 matches
Born in 1990
James McCarthy, Everton, 295 matches
Born in 1989
Charlie Austin, Southampton, 320 matches
Born in 1988
Sergio Agüero, Manchester City, 368 matches
Born in 1987
Billy Jones, Sunderland, 395 matches
Born in 1986
James Milner, Liverpool, 410 matches
Born in 1985
Simon Francis, Bournemouth, 460 matches
Born in 1984
Wes Morgan, Leicester, 527 matches
Born in 1983
Jon Walters, Stoke City, 456 matches
Born in 1982
Rickie Lambert, West Bromwich, 597 matches
Born in 1981
Gareth Barry, Everton, 588 matches
Born in 1980
Sylvain Armand, Stade Rennais, 522 matches
Born in 1979
Massimo Maccarone, Empoli FC, 539 matches
Born in 1978
Gianluigi Buffon, Juventus, 612 matches
Born in 1977 or before
Mark Schwarzer, Leicester City FC, 626 matches
To see the top three players in each age group ranking go to http://www.football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/b5wp/2015/139/en/
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