the last footballer you were surprised to discover was actually still playing

Colin Kazim-Richards, 37, currently playing for Fatih Karagümrük S.K. in the Süper Lig, the top tier of Turkish football.

That's Colin Kazim-Kazim to you!

tbf I could have named the thread 'inexplicably long careers of shitty footballers who played for Celtic for about five minutes' but I thought I'd make it more inclusive.

"Tom Huddlestone plays for Man Utd" is a good weird 2023 fact imo

holy shit did not know

With goalkeepers, it's not all that surprising I suppose - but I didn't expect to see Pepe Reina (age 41) save an injury-time penalty for Villareal in Europe last week. He's their first choice!

Hulk. Still playing in Serie A in Brazil. 38 next month.

Morten Gamst Pedersen still registered as a player with Ranheim, a club in the Norwegian second tier. He played 19 games for them last season, scoring 3 goals. He's 42.

... sorry, 2 goals.

Chicharito, 36, back at his hometown club of Guadalajara.

ah lovely

Though in classic style, he has been injured for the last two months and missed most of last season for the same reason, so ‘still playing’ is contentious.

Salomon Rondon is still at it at Pachuca, though.

The one that surprised me recently was Yannick Bolasie, who is in Brazil, as is Joel Campbell, who is only 32 but has seemed like a former player for about ten years.

i think his build kinda always made him seem about 26 tbf

"Tom Huddlestone plays for Man Utd" is a good weird 2023 fact imo

Retired 2 July 2024.

Mathieu Valbuena, 40, currently playing for Athens Kallithea in the top tier of Greek football.

Ched Evans

Lukas Podolski, still a first team regular for Górnik Zabrze in the Polish top tier at 39.

Paolo Guerrero just scored in the Copa Libertadores at the age of 41.

Roque Santa Cruz (43) is still at it too.

Watching coverage of Wrexham's promotion to the Championship, I had no idea Steven Fletcher was still playing at 38.

probably still about as quick as he's ever been

Santi Cazorla has just signed a contract extension at Oviedo at the age of 40.

Didn't he just get them promoted back into La Liga? One last go I guess, earnt it

was sure that this would be andy carroll, who from the surface interest i actually pay seems to have made a fairly admirable fist at a career from where his barstool injury record had brought him to at one point

Was about to say he's one of those mysterious forwards who doesn't score many goals but his scoring record at his last club was good.

division 3 in france or something tho

'deaux

finally manifesting his destiny as east end mob lord

(xp) lol 4th tier after "financial difficulties"

but is that this season or last

Andy Carroll just signed for Dagenham & Redbridge

With the right team behind him he can paint twenty walls a season.

David Luiz, 38, currently at Cypriot club, Pafos (his wages no doubt being funded by dodgy Russian money).

yes my dad's local team, they've had a mysterious influx of cash recently, qualified for the champions league this year and aren't even playing the games in pafos

saw dante (42 next week) was playing in Europe last week too

xp theres something a little sad sounding about all of that

Kyle Lafferty is playing for a non-league team down the road from me, I discovered during a quick read through the local paper.

I last saw Jamie Cureton play when he was at Farnborough in 2018. He's still playing in the Eastern Counties League. He was 50 in the close season.

43 yr old Peter Clarke at Prescot Cables

Our over 35s came up against some names yesterday 😂 pic.twitter.com/A58SnySGbf

— Laffey (@laffey31) October 20, 2025

Shocking selfishness from Cisse

radja nainggolan

lol, that one is a surprise under the circumstances.

And bang on cue, yesterday Jamie Cureton became the first ever footballer to score in every one of the top 10 divisions in English football.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1BbbHePBqS/

Awww

Niall McGinn, 38, currently playing for Peterhead.

Jamie Vardy. Not surprised he's still playing, I was sure he was, but I was surprised to find out it was for Cremonese. Still scoring too.

Journeyman forward, Scott McGleish, who played for Colchester, Northampton, Orient and many others, is still playing for Leverstock Green in Southern League, Division One Central. He was 52 in February.