It’s the longest contract ever signed by a hockey player outside of the NHL and it’s believed to be the longest contract signed by a professional player in any team sport in Europe.

Pietta will be 38 years old once the contract expires in 2025. The longest active contract of a hockey player is Shea Weber’s 14-year deal running through 2026 with the Nashville Predators while Alexander Ovechkin’s contract is for 13 years until 2021. Ilya Kovalchuk even signed a 15-year deal in 2010 but decided to retire from NHL play in 2013 to return to his Russian team SKA St. Petersburg.

Such long contracts are less common in Europe than they are in North American team sports. Pietta’s contract even runs longer than the ones of European football stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo or Gareth Bale, who are currently playing under six-year contracts.

“The Pinguine are the team of my heart. I’ve always played for Krefeld and it’s here where I want to end my career. That has always been my goal,” Pietta said according to DEL.org when he announced his extension during the first intermission of his team’s home game against the Hamburg Freezers.

“I have great confidence in the management that they do not only secure the continuation of the team in the DEL but that they will also make sure we’ll have good teams with which I can achieve something. (To win) a championship with Krefeld is my dream.”

Pietta, who played his first DEL game as a 16-year-old, has spent his entire junior and senior career in Krefeld apart from one season in which he was loaned to second-tier team Duisburg. After the loan spell he had his first full season in the DEL as a 19-year-old and became one of the top forwards over the years. He was his team’s scoring leader in 2012 and leads his team in scoring in the current season with 11 goals and 31 assists in 40 games.