Hoffenheim's Baumann to make 500th Bundesliga appearance on Friday

Hoffenheim's Germany goalkeeper Oliver Baumann will make his 500th Bundesliga appearance when his side travel to Mainz on Friday.

It all comes as he has established himself as Germany number one for the first time following Manuel Neuer's international retirement and Marc-André ter Stegen's injury problems. He will hope to keep the jersey for the World Cup next June.

The 35-year-old will be only the fifth goalkeeper to reach the Bundesliga milestone and 14th player since 1963.

"I'm slowly starting to believe it myself, but it feels surreal that it has already come to this," Baumann told Kicker magazine this week.

The record holder is Eintracht Frankfurt's Karl-Heinz (Charly) Körbel with 602.

"We will see about that. That is still too far away," added Baumann, who also played in the German top flight for Freiburg from 2010-2014.

"But to reach the realm of 500 games is cool, that means a lot to me. Unfortunately, I have not yet won a title, which is why individual awards are all the more significant."

He has only missed 22 games since 2010.

Bayern Munich's Neuer has amassed 532 Bundesliga appearances and is the only current player in Germany ahead of Baumann.