Clubs: CA Talleres, CA Banfield, FC Internazionale Milano

UEFA honours
UEFA Champions League: winner 2010
UEFA Cup: winner 1998

• Buenos Aires-born, Zanetti started out with second-tier outfit Talleres before joining top-flight club Banfield in 1993.

• Made his debut for Argentina in November 1994 – in a Santiago friendly against Chile (3-0) – and departed for Europe the following summer, joining Inter, where he made 32 appearances in his debut Serie A campaign.

• Won his first trophy with Inter in the 1997/98 UEFA Cup, scoring the second in a 3-0 final victory against S.S. Lazio; had to wait until 2005 before captaining the club to silverware, in the Coppa Italia.

• Retained the domestic cup in 2006, and after Inter were proclaimed as 2005/06 Serie A champions by default, Zanetti led them to league titles in each of the following three seasons, missing just one game (in 2006/07) and setting a club record for consecutive appearances (137).

• Became Argentina's most-capped player in November 2007, having represented his country at four Copa América tournaments (1995, 1999, 2004, 2007), two FIFA World Cups (1998, 2002; he was omitted from the 2006 squad) and two FIFA Confederations Cups (1995, 2005).

• Played in 16 of Albicelestes's 2010 World Cup qualifiers despite ceding captaincy to Javier Mascherano when Diego Maradona became head coach but again left out of the finals squad.

• He captained Inter to UEFA Champions League final glory against FC Bayern München on his 700th appearance for the Nerazzurri; also won Serie A and Coppa Italia during a historic 2009/10 campaign.

• Signed a two-year contract extension with Inter in August 2010, two months before becoming the oldest player to score in the UEFA Champions League, aged 37 years and 72 days, when he struck in a 4-3 loss to Tottenham Hotspur FC on 20 October, although his record was swiftly taken by Filippo Inzaghi.

• Has played in more Serie A matches than any other non-Italian and surpassed Giuseppe Bergomi's club record of 519 league appearances when he featured in a 3-2 defeat of AC Cesena on 19 January 2011.