Melanie tops all-time ranking for appearances

Melanie Serrano, now into an amazing seventeenth season at the club, is officially the woman who has played the most games for FC Barcelona.

The FC Barcelona Documentation and Studies Centre has scoured the lists dating all the way back to 2002, when the team became an official part of the club, and has been able to ascertain who tops the all-time charts for appearances and goals over those eighteen years.

The only year for which there is no data is 2007/08, when the team played in the second division and no complete records were kept.

Born in Sevilla and raised on the Catalan coast in Blanes, where her family moved, Melanie joined Barça in 2004 when she was just 14 years old, and didn’t take long to start playing for the first team.

She has played 448 first class fixtures since then, at left back or in midfield, always displaying humility, discretion and the utmost respect for the team colours. With the number 5 on her back, nobody has a better idea than she of the way the team has been professionalised in recent years.

Now an absolute legend of the team, it will be a very long time indeed before anyone matches Melanie’s extraordinary stat.

All of the top five players in the ranking are still on the club’s books. Marta Unzué is second after amassing 360 appearances from 2006 to 2018, but she has spent the last two seasons on loan to Athletic Club.

Next in line come Vicky Losada (330), Alexia Putellas (303) and Marta Torrejón (261), all of whom still have time to continue rewriting the club’s record books