Willi Landgraf
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Willi Landgraf (b. August 29, 1968 in Mülheim an der Ruhr) is a German soccer player, currently playing for the amateurs of Schalke 04.
He is the record holder of games played in the Second Bundesliga with 505 games. He notably never played a single game in the Bundesliga. Most of Landgraf's games were for Rot-Weiß Essen and for Alemannia Aachen.
Landgraf was well-known for his honest, blue-collar approach to soccer and was regarded as a great fan favourite even of fans who did not follow his teams.
At age 37, he seemed to finally achieve his dream of playing his first Bundesliga match, when his club Alemannia Aachen were promoted. However, Landgraf (who had been benched most of the season because his younger rival outplayed him) declined to hang on as a "mercy player" and went to the amateurs of Schalke 04, and intends to make his trainer's license.
