SAO PAULO, Brazil — Brazilian goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni has reached yet another milestone in his prolific career by breaking Ryan Giggs’ record for most wins with a single club.
Ceni reached his 590th victory with Sao Paulo on Monday night to surpass the mark previously set by the Manchester United midfielder.
The 41-year-old Ceni already held the record for most goals scored by a goalkeeper, with 123, and for most matches as a club’s captain, with 929.
He is expected to reach 1,180 matches with Sao Paulo before he retires by the end of the year, also a world record. Giggs ended his Manchester United career with 168 goals in 963 appearances.
"To be honest, I think all of this was somewhat expected considering the long career that I have had," Ceni said. "I worked hard for all of it, and that has to be said. All of the achievements came as a consequence of my work."
In his 22-year career as a professional with Sao Paulo, Ceni won three Copa Libertadores, three club world titles and three straight Brazilian championships from 2006-08. His performance was crucial for Sao Paulo’s 1-0 win over Liverpool in FIFA’s Club World Cup in 2005.
"In the end I have to thank Sao Paulo for giving me this opportunity," he said. "I’m sure that I wouldn’t be able to reach this number of victories if I wasn’t playing for such a successful club like Sao Paulo."
Despite being a great goalkeeper, Ceni is known mostly for his ability to score. The majority of his goals came from penalties, with 56 of them from free kicks.
Ceni has already scored eight goals in this year’s Brazilian league and is one of Sao Paulo’s top scorers this season. With Monday’s 3-0 win against Goias at the Morumbi Stadium, Sao Paulo moved within five points of leader Cruzeiro with seven rounds left in the competition. Sao Paulo is also fighting for the title in the Copa Sudamericana, giving the goalkeeper another chance to retire with a trophy.
Ceni played only 17 times for Brazil’s national team, but was a member of squads that won the World Cup in 2002 and 2006. His only World Cup appearance was in Brazil’s 4-1 group-stage win over Japan, when the team was already guaranteed a place in the second round.