On the occasion of his 40th birthday, which he's celebrating this Wednesday, we look back at Dante's love affair with Le Gym.

7818: The distance in kilometres as the crow flies between Nice and Salvador de Bahia, our captain's birthplace.

1: Dante has made the most appearances of any player for Le Gym since returning to the top flight in 2002/03 with 255 games in all competitions. He passed the previous mark set by Olivier Echouafni (230 matches) on 23 February this year. Le Gym is actually the club for whom he has played most in his career, well ahead of Bayern Munich (133). 

4: Since his arrival in Nice, Le Gym has played four European campaigns, that's as many as in the 50 previous years. 

4: Four is also the number of contract extensions the Brazilian defender has signed. After arriving in 2016, he has put pen to paper again in 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023. 

5: The number of goalkeepers Dante has played in front of in a competitive game for Nice: Yoan Cardinale, Walter Benitez, Yannis Clementia, Marcin Bułka and Kasper Schmeichel. 

5: Dante has also played alongside five fellow Brazilians in Nice: Dalbert, Marlon, Danilo Barbosa, Robson Bambu and Rony Lopes. At the club in the 2020/21 season, the latter was born in Belem in Brazil, but plays international football for Portugal.

6: The 2013 Champions League winner has played in six different competitions for Nice: Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, the Coupe de la Ligue, Champions League (third qualifying round and play-off), Europa League, and Europa Conference League. 

6: Six is the number of years difference between our number 4 and his current coach, Francesco Farioli. 

7: El Comman'Dante has scored seven times since arriving on the Côte d'Azur (4 headers, 2 left foot, 1 right foot). His most recent came when he opened the scoring against Ajaccio in the 3-0 win on 10 February, 2023.

 

8: The Capitão is currently playing in his eighth season with Le Gym.

8: In 255 games at Nice, Dante has only left his team-mates midway through a match on eight occasions. Four of those came as a result of sending off, one was due to injury (cruciate knee ligaments against Angers on 1 November 2020) and three as a result of a choice made by the coach.

11: The number of assists provided by the Salvador de Bahia native in an Aiglons shirt, including the one that led to Youcef Atal's opener against Strasbourg earliewr this season (R4, 2-0).

11: The 11th is also the date of Dante's first match with Les Aiglons. And what a first it was! On 11 September 2016, Le Gym won at home to OM (3-2) in a stunning encounter.

22: Like the date of Nice-Napoli, the first match in which Champions League music rang out at the Allianz Riviera, on 22 August 2017. A match in which Dante naturally took part.

23: The love affair between Dante and Le Gym began on 23 August 2016, the day the centre-back arrived from VFL Wolfsburg.

23: It was also on a 23rd - 23 October 2016 - that Comman'Dante captained Le Gym for the first time, the Brazilian inspiring in a comprehensive 4-2 league win over Metz.

24: The number of years separating Le Gym's defensive boss and Amidou Doumbouya, the youngest player in the professional squad (16), who arrived this summer from Sochaux.

30: Despite Le Gym's return to the group stages of a European competition the season he arrived, Dante has played a staggering 30 European matches during his time on the Côte d'Azur (four in the preliminary round of the Champions League, 11 in the Conference League, 15 in the Europa League).

31: Although the Comman'Dante has been wearing the No.4 shirt since the 2019/2020 season, the central defender has not always worn it. Indeed, when he first joined Le Gym, his number was 31.

34: Since signing for the Côte d'Azur, Dante has faced 34 different opponents in domestic competition (Ligue 1, Coupe de France, Coupe de la Ligue).

35: The man with 13 caps for the Seleçao has now played 35 consecutive games for OGC Nice in Ligue 1. He has not left Le Gym's starting XI in the league since the 23 October 2022 draw against Nantes (R12, 1-1).

40: If he plays in the next match against OM, at 40 years and three days old, Dante will become the fifth 40-year-old to play in Ligue 1 in the 21st century, after Benjamin Nivet, Gianluigi Buffon, Hilton and Florent Balmont. He is already Nice's oldest player over the last 50 years in the top flight.

47: The number of games Dante had to wait before scoring his first goal for OGC Nice. It was against Zulte-Waregem on 14 September 2017, on the opening day of the Europa League group stage, in a match that Le Gym won comfortably (5-1).

49: During the 2022/2023 season, Dante made 49 appearances in all competitions. Never before in his career had the Brazilian made so many appearances in a single season (not including national-team appearances). An impressive achievement at the age of 39!

85: The rock of Nice's rearguard has shared 85 games in the centre of defence with Jean-Clair Todibo, making the French international Dante's most frequent partner in central defence at OGC Nice.

111: The number of victories Dante has helped Les Aiglons to clinch since joining the club (96 in Ligue 1, five in the Coupe de France, five in the Europa League, four in the Conference League and one in the Coupe de la Ligue).

120: Last season, the Nice stopper played in two matches that went to extra-time, reaching 120 minutes twice in the course of the season. Before that, the last time the defender had played extra- time was with Bayern Munich on 8 April 2015. He was 31 at the time, compared to 39 last season.

234: Captain of Le Gym since the 2017/2018 season, Dante has worn the armband 234 times in his eight seasons with Les Rouge et Noir.

 

255: The number of games he has played for the club, a figure that can also be reached by adding up his appearances for Lille (19), Borussia M'Gladbach (103) and Bayern Munich (133).

281: Heavily injured (cruciate knee ligament rupture) against Angers on 1 November 2020, Dante spent 281 days without playing before resuming his place on the pitch at the start of the following season. His return came against Reims on 8 August 2021, a sign of the resilience of Nice's captain, who was 37 at the time.

1000: The number of times OGC Nice have wished their captain a happy birthday on his 40th birthday!

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Hugo Rondet