Finding players who will stick to a club long-term is becoming rarer and rarer in the modern age of football. The most recent example of a player dedicating the bulk of their career to the club is Ciro Immobile. The forward is still under contract with Lazio until the summer of 2026 and should, during the 2023/24 Serie A campaign, surpass four-hundred appearances for the club.
While playing time is likely to diminish from here on out for Immobile, he is still both Lazio and Serie A’s all-time leading goalscorer. Immobile will still have plenty of opportunity to add to his tally and will remain a big focus in goalscorer markets at betting sites.
But during Lazio’s storied history, only two players have appeared more than 400 times for the Biancocelesti across all competitions. Here we look at them and also give some honourable mentions to some of Lazio’s other longest-serving stalwarts.
Stefan Radu
With 427 appearances for Lazio, Stefan Radu’s record is going to take some beating. For context, Ciro Immobile would likely need a good three or four more full seasons to get close to taking his record.
Stefan Radu joined Lazio on loan initially in the 2007/08 season and made eleven appearances. He was signed permanently by Lazio for the start of the next campaign and stayed with the club until he finally retired at the end of the 2022/23 season.
Radu only made one appearance for Lazio last season in the league and a couple in Europe. But that was three more matches in total that he added to his remarkable tally. The former club captain won three Coppa Italia titles and three Supercoppa Italiana crowns during his time at the club.
The 427 appearances for the Biancocelesti is not only a club record, but from that, the Romanian is also the all-time Serie A record-holder with 349 appearances.
Giuseppe Favalli
Fierce defender Giuseppe Favalli tallied 298 appearances for Lazio and earned more silverware during his time at the club than Radu did. Favalli debuted for Lazio in Serie A in 1992 following a move from Cremonese.
With 401 matches for Lazio, he and Radu are the only two in the 400+ club. A strong competitor across the back line, Favalli was made club captain and did something that Radu never managed, which was to win a Serie A title with Lazio.
That was in 2000, adding to other silverware earned across the Coppa Italia, Supercoppa Italiana, UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and the UEFA Super Cup. After leaving Lazio, Favalli won another Serie A title with Inter and a UEFA Champions League crown with AC Milan.
Giuseppe Wilson
Born in England to an Italian mother and an English father, Giuseppe (Joseph) Wilson moved to Italy before his first birthday and spent the prime of his career playing for Lazio. Wilson earned three caps for Italy during his career and the defender made 394 appearances across all competitions for Lazio and was part of their 1973/74 Serie A title-winning squad.
Paolo Negro
Another great defender ripped from the pages of Lazio history is Paolo Negro who retired in 2007. But he had a tremendous trophy-laden career at Lazio which spanned from 1993 through to 2005, making a total of 376 appearances. He was part of Lazio’s successful 1999/2000 Serie A title-winning season alongside Favalli.
Just to highlight how important these two defenders were at the time for Lazio, Favalli and Negro won the exact same major trophies (8 of them) during their playing days at the club. Surprisingly only eight international caps were handed to Negro, strangely, the same number that Favilli earned.
Senad Lulić
Coming forward a little more into the modern era, Bosnian international Senad Lulić also put in a long shift for Lazio before his retirement at the end of the 2021/22 season. Lulić racked up 371 matches for Lazio during his time at the club, just five short of Paolo Negro’s record.
The midfielder debuted for Lazio in 2011 and in 2018 made it onto the club’s top ten all-time appearance list. Lulić had climbed his way up to fifth in the appearance list by the time he retired, with three major titles won during his time in Rome.
Most Serie A Appearances for Lazio
The chart is a little different for the Total Serie A appearances made for the Biancocelesti. The main difference is Paolo Negro not making the list, while Aldo Puccinelli, who retired in 1957, is the player that Radu took the club’s league appearance record from.
- Stefan Radu: 349
- Aldo Puccinelli: 319
- Giuseppe Favalli: 298
- Giuseppe Wilson: 286
- Senad Lulić: 282
