Top 10 OLD footballers! Including Zlatan, Giggs and Pirlo!
Which players rocked it until a late age?
After Kazuyoshi Miura became the oldest player to score a goal in professional football, we thought we’d countdown some of the best ever players who kept going until a late age.
There are some absolute legends in here, so here is our list!
10) Stanley Matthews
Enjoying a good career at clubs such as Blackpool and Stoke, Matthews kept playing until he was 35, which in the 1940’s, was a very lengthy career.
9) Antonio Di Natale
Di Natale’s best years came after he’d hit 30, in fact, before then, he’d never scored 20 goals in a season. But overall, he scored 227 goals for Udinese.
8) Teddy Sheringham
Despite having a good 5 seasons at Tottenham, Sheringham’s career truly got going when he moved to Manchester United after turning 31. He won 3 Premier League, an FA Cup and the Champions League at Old Trafford before having spells at Portsmouth and West Ham and then retiring.
7) Didier Drogba
Drogba was just a king at Chelsea who kept going and going, won titles and the Champions League with Chelsea, scoring the winning penalty in the final at the age of 34.
6) Gianluigi Buffon
At 39, this man is still playing Champions League football and winning Serie A titles, he truly is one of the greats of the game.
5) Ryan Giggs
The man was part of Manchester United for well over 25 years, as a youth player, first team player and then part of the coaching staff. He only left at the beginning of this season.
4) Andrea Pirlo
Like fine wine, Pirlo got better and classier with age. At the age of 32, Pirlo went onto win 4 consecutive Serie A titles. Unstoppable.
3) Ferenc Puskas
He had an incredible career, retiring at 31 (incredible for the 50’s) and scored 242 goals in 262 career games.
2) Zlatan Ibrahimovic
He’s won trophies wherever he’s played, perhaps one of the best strikers of all time. That Champions League medal still alludes him…however.
1) Francesco Totti
The ultimate one-club man.
By Ben Kelly – @benkelly_10