The photos of Vincenzo Grifo and Christian Günter holding jerseys to honour their 250th and 350th competitive appearances for Freiburg respectively remain hung up in the SC club office. However, in the meantime, the numbers on these two framed shirts have already become outdated. Günter celebrated his 400th competitive appearance for the club right at the start of last term in the home game against VfB Stuttgart. Grifo made his 300th appearance for SC at home to Union Berlin. Both these remarkable milestone achievements symbolise continuity and loyalty. Günter has played for SC since his youth days, while Grifo has been a permanent fixture of the SC team for six years, having also worn the colours between 2015 and 2017. The German-Italian has now climbed to fifth place on Freiburg’s all-time record appearance charts.

Günter and Grifo are not the only SC players to have reached landmarks during the past campaign, with six others also celebrating. After Günter, Nicolas Höfler has played the second-most competitive matches in the current SC squad with 350. The 35-year-old made his milestone appearance against 1. FSV Mainz 05. Höfler has also been at the club since he was in his youth, joining the Freiburg academy at U17 level. The midfielder made his senior competitive debut against TSG Hoffenheim on matchday three of the 2013/14 season.

Höler breaks into the top 10

Lucas Höler made the move from SV Sandhausen to Freiburg seven years ago. The home clash with Bayern München last term marked his 250th appearance in competitive action. In the final away fixture of the campaign in Kiel, the attacker achieved yet another feat, drawing level with Joachim Löw in 10th place in Freiburg's all-time list as he made it 263 matches under his belt.

Two players reached the 200-game mark, namely Philipp Lienhart and Lukas Kübler. Lienhart, an integral part of Freiburg’s central defence, made 35 competitive appearances this season. The Austrian played his 200th match for SC in the first half of the campaign at home to 1. FSV Mainz 05. Kübler, who scored five goals this term from defence, including two braces, celebrated his anniversary appearance away in Mönchengladbach.

Ginter moves into the Bundesliga’s top 100

Matthias Ginter reached a special milestone on the matchday three as the centre-half made his 350th Bundesliga appearance in the home fixture with VfL Bochum. Ginter racked up this impressive number across spells with SC, Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Mönchengladbach, for all of whom he played in the German top flight. The match also marked his first in the competition for Freiburg. In January 2012, he came on as a substitute against FC Augsburg to score his opening goal just minutes in his Bundesliga debut. The 31-year-old is now something of an old hand, and his 380th appearance at home to BVB saw him move into the top 100 in the all-time Bundesliga record appearance standings.

The home match against Bochum signified a further landmark as Ritsu Doan made his 100th Bundesliga appearance in the home win against the now relegated outfit. The Japan international accumulated the majority of these matches with SC, while the remaining came during his time with Arminia Bielefeld, with whom he also made his first ever appearance in Germany’s top flight in September 2020.

Club record equalled

Noah Atubolu also enjoyed two special moments last season. The final whistle against RB Leipzig in March signalled not only that the Freiburg shot stopper had equalled the long-standing record of former SC goalkeeper Richard Golz but that he had actually surpassed it. Atubolu ultimately went 576 minutes without conceding a goal, beating Golz’s previous achievement of 510 flawless minutes.

“I love when it’s just me and the striker, one-on-one,” explained Atubolu to the media following his fourth penalty save in succession. In doing so, the Germany U21 keeper equalled yet another record. Up until that point, only four goalkeepers had previously kept out four spot kicks in a row.