This past weekend Real Madrid legend Raul capped off his incredible football career with a NASL title win for the New York Cosmos.
For five years after leaving his La Liga home Raul continued to play at a high level, whether it was for Schalke 04, Al Sadd or New York, even at an age where an overwhelming number of footballers would’ve already retired.
In the spirit of Raul’s ability to keep going strong after age 35, we’re taking a look at some of the football starts still going strong when they should have already hung up the cleats.
As Raul retires, here’s a celebration of his peers:
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Tim Cahill (35)
Now playing in China for Shanghai Shenhua, Cahill has had a comparable number of headers to Andy Carroll and is still a key member of the Australian national team.
Diego Forlan (36)
The former Man United flop now plays for Penarol – the same club that gave him his football debut… back in 1990!
Diego Milito (36)
Milito had some of the best years of his career once he reached age 30 with Inter Milan. He now plays for Racing Club – his first senior club.
Walter Samuel (37)
After ten incredible seasons at Inter Milan that included 14 titles and a Serie A defender of the year award, Samuel moved to FC Basel and continues to see plenty of time on the pitch.
Ricardo Carvalho (37)
A Ligue 1 title win with Monaco before he retires would make Chelsea’s former defender one of the few players in history to win titles in England, Portugal, Spain and France.
Antonio Di Natale (38)
The seemingly ageless Udinese striker has never won a league title, but he has 224 goals with the club since 2004.
Mario Yepes (39)
The original ‘Super Mario’ before Golden Boy Mario Balotelli, Yepes has played over 21 seasons of football for nine different clubs.
Juan Carlos Valeron (40)
An icon to the likes of Iniesta, and admired by Vicente Del Bosque, Valeron’s legendary tenure with Deportivo ended on a low note, but he’s still fighting it out in La Liga with Las Palmas.
Ze Roberto (41)
A superb Bundesliga operator in his day, Ze Roberto made a stunning 41 appearances for Palmeiras in 2015 – and is still going strong.
Rogerio Ceni (42)
With over 1,200 appearances for Sao Paulo, Rogerio Ceni is one of the true Iron Men of football.
When he made his football debut in 1993, Sir Alex Ferguson hadn’t even won a single Premier League title yet, and Eden Hazard was still in diapers.