THIS weekend a 70-year-old is set to make history by becoming Spain’s oldest ever competitive footballer.
Angel Mateos Gonzalez is due to start in goal for the Asturian team CD Colunga in a fifth-tier match on Sunday after having retired from competitive football 27 years ago.
Mateos has spent this season assisting the club’s keepers in their Tercera Federacion group two campaign.
Now the northern Spanish team said they will put Mateos between the sticks when they take on their regional rivals CD Praviano.
Announcing the move on Facebook, the club has said that they will be celebrating the keeper and his lifelong dedication to work and football.
When questioned over whether this post was a publicity stunt the club said that the decision was solely about recognizing Mateos for his strong values.
“Mateos embodies what we stand for at CD Colunga: passion; consistency; respect for football, and a way of experiencing the sport that transcends age,” the club stated in a public statement.
“Mateos isn’t playing because he’s 70-years-old. He’s playing because he’s earned it.”
When speaking about his Sunday start to local newspaper El Comercio, Mateos said that he does not know whether he will play the entire game.
“I’m going to train with the team this week but I still don’t know if I’ll play the entire 90 minutes or just the first half,” he explained.
The keeper has been playing football since he was 10 and still weighs the same as he did when he was 18, according to Cope radio.
“When I started out, it was almost a different sport,” the former miner revealed.
He continued: “A lot of the guys I worked with in the mines didn’t like sports and just wanted to go to the bar. I never got that. You have to keep active and do sport or go for a walk.”
On Sunday when Mateos takes to the pitch fans will watch on as CD Colunga aim to get ‘back to the essence of football’ and recognise those who make the sport ‘great’.
Click here to read more Sport News from The Olive Press.
