Brad Friedel

Friedel's age of 39 years and 259 days surpassed the previous record held by Ernie Callaghan, who last played for Villa against Grimsby Town in April 1947, aged 39 years and 257 days.

Bradley Howard Friedel (born May 18, 1971) is an American professional soccer coach and former player who played as a goalkeeper.

He earned Bay High's Outstanding Athlete of the Year award in 1989.

Friedel graduated from Bay High in 1989.

As an All-State basketball player in Ohio, he was invited to try out as a walk-on for UCLA's basketball team in 1990.

He began as a forward on his youth soccer team before moving into goalkeeping.

In 1990, he kept goal for the Bruins to the NCAA championship.

He was selected as the first team All-American goalkeeper in 1991 and 1992, and won the Hermann Trophy in 1993 as the top collegiate soccer player.

He played 66 games for the UCLA, all of which he started.

Soccer America magazine named Friedel to its College Team of the Century.

Friedel left UCLA early to pursue a professional career.

He began by attempting to sign with Nottingham Forest under Brian Clough, but was denied a work permit, the first in several such failed attempts to move to England.

Following a brief trial in Scotland with Celtic,

Friedel was signed by manager Kevin Keegan of Newcastle United, but again was denied a work permit.

While awaiting approval from the British authorities, he practiced with Newcastle as an on-loan player from the USSF.

Friedel played 84 games for the United States national team between 1992 and 2005, and represented his country at three FIFA World Cup tournaments.

He is the current holder of the Premier League record for most consecutive appearances with 310, a feat he achieved during spells at Blackburn Rovers, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur.

Friedel joined Danish Superliga club Brøndby IF in the spring of 1995.

He stayed with that club for several months in 1995, as back-up to Mogens Krogh.

Friedel remained with Brøndby until he returned to the U.S. to rejoin the national team, then preparing for the 1995 U.S. Cup and Copa America.

After the two tournaments, Friedel attempted a third time to join an English club, this time Sunderland.

While awaiting a decision regarding his latest application for a work permit, Friedel spent time training with League of Ireland side St. Patrick's Athletic, who were managed at the time by Brian Kerr, a friend of Sunderland manager Peter Reid's. When Friedel again failed to receive a British work permit, his agent negotiated a $1.1 million transfer from the USSF to leading Turkish team Galatasaray in 1995.

Galatasaray were managed by Friedel's future Blackburn Rovers manager Graeme Souness.

In July 1996, following the end of the Turkish season, Friedel moved to the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer (MLS).

In February 1997, he signed a three-year contract with the Crew as he was named the team's starter.

That season, he was selected to the MLS Best XI and named the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year.

Friedel completed a transfer to Liverpool, worth £1.7 million, in 1997.

On December 23, 1997, Liverpool gained a work permit for Friedel on appeal after the first request was denied.

He made his debut against Aston Villa on February 28, 1998.

While Friedel had some initial success with the Reds, he soon had a difficult time, managing just over 30 games in almost three years, including two appearances in the UEFA Cup, as he sat behind first David James and later Sander Westerveld.

Friedel was signed to Blackburn Rovers by Graeme Souness on a free transfer in November 2000 after a work permit was secured.

In 2007, he was inducted into the Bay High Hall of Fame.

Friedel played college soccer at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Friedel is also officially Aston Villa's oldest-ever player, a record he set on February 1, 2011, by playing in the club's Premier League fixture away at Manchester United.

Friedel's last appearance for Villa was on May 22, 2011, in a 1–0 home win against Liverpool, aged 40 years and four days.

Until he was left out of the Tottenham team on October 7, 2012, the last Premier League games Friedel missed were Blackburn's final two fixtures of the 2003–04 season against Tottenham and Birmingham City, on May 10 and 15, 2004, respectively.

On May 6, 2012, Friedel also became the oldest player to appear in a competitive match for Tottenham when he played in the club's Premier League fixture at Aston Villa, beating Jimmy Cantrell's near-80-year-old record.

He ended his Premier League career after a total of 450 appearances, which remains a record for any North or South American player.

Born in Lakewood, Ohio, Friedel grew up in Bay Village, where he attended Westerly Elementary School, Bay Middle School and Bay High School.

Growing up, Friedel played several sports, including soccer, basketball and tennis, and excelled at all three.