Oldest Premier League players of all time

Football nowadays is considered a sport more for the youngsters, but there have been players who kept shining on the field till the fourth decades of their lives. Goalkeepers are known for their ability to keep their form long after midfielders are out of the scene.

is probably the best example these days as the veteran goalkeeper recently signed a one year contract with Juventus at the age of 42! Another Italian legend, Dino Zoff even managed to win the world cup as the first-choice goalkeeper of the Italian national team at 40. While among forwards, they self-proclaimed Benjamin Button of football, Zlatan Ibrahimović continues to shine on the top level and signed a one-year contract with AC Milan, which will keep him in San Siro till he is 40 years old. At this article we will take a look at the career of

oldest football players in EPL history

.

All you need to know about oldest premier league players of all time

From the Dutch goalkeeper of the Red Devils, Edwin Van der Sar who reached UCL's final on the verge of his 40

th

birthday till the Premier's league record holder, John Burridge who played his last game at the age of 43, here is the list of

Oldest Premier League Players of all time

.

Edwin van der Sar - 40 years and 205 days

The legendary goalkeeper who was famous for his slim figure and incredible height, Edwin Var Der Sar started his career in the golden generation of Ajax Amsterdam which won the Uefa Champions League in 1995. The Nederland most capped player in history, Van Der Sar had successful spells in Juventus and Fulham before joining the Red Devils in the early years of the twenty first century. Van Der Sar had the most successful years of his career in Old Trafford and was a key player for Manchester United in the final years of Alex Ferguson's Reign.

 The Dutch giant goalkeeper won many domestic titles and reached 2 UCL finals (2009 and 2011), both of which they lost to Pep Guardiola's Barcelona. Despite those two losses, he tasted the greatest success in club football in 2008 as

won the Uefa Champions League after beating Chelsea in the penalty shoot-out.

 At 2012 he decided to retire from football at. Van Der Sar was 40 years and 205 days when he played his last game for Manchester United. He is the tenth old player ever to feature in the English premiere league. He later came out of retirement for a brief period in VV Noordwijk and famously saved a crucial penalty in his first game.

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Teddy Sheringham - 40 years and 272 days

For 24 years, Teddy Sheringham played professional football at the highest level, but he is most famous for the moment he scored the injury-time equalizer against

in 1999 UCL final. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored the winning goal moments later and Manchester united won the first treble in premiere league history.

Sheringham spent his entire career in English football, mostly the premiere league. He played 755 games for 8 clubs, scoring 288 goals. The evergreen striker scored Nothingham Forest's first goal in premiere league history. He was known most for his ability to change the course of games as a substitute. What remarkable about him is that He is only non-goalkeeper players of this list. A testimony to his consistency and athleticism. Sheringham was one of the oldest footballers in Premier League history.

His last game was on December 2006 in west ham 1-0 defeat against Manchester City at the age of 40 years and 272 days. Sheringham scored 361 goals in 926 games for 10 clubs in four different divisions of English football. His most successful spell was from 1998 to 2002, in which he won three premiere league and one

title. He is one of the oldest player to play in premier league.

Jens Lehmann - 41 years and 151 days

Nicknamed as "the Crazy One", The German international goalkeeper spent most of his career years outside the premiere league, yet his most successful years were from 2003 to 2008 in which he won one historic premiere league title and was runners-up in the 2005-2006 champion league. A game which

lost 2-1 after Lehmann was sent off in the first half. He was one of the members of the unbeatable arsenal side which won the premiere league without a single defeat in the 2003-2004 season.

In total, Lehmann played 145 games in the premiere league, all of which he played for Arsenal. He left arsenal for Stuttgart in 2008, only to come back three years later for only a six weak period. He played one game for his old club during this time, but that game, a 3-1 win against Blackpool which was enough for Jens Lehmann to write his name in the history books as the 8th oldest player to ever play in the English Premiere League.

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Kevin Poole - 41 and 164 days

Another goalkeeper in the list of Premiere league oldest players, Kevin Poole played 431 games for 9 clubs in English football, including Aston Villa, Middlesborough, Leicester City and Birmingham City in the premiere league. He started his career in 1981 for

and went on to become one of the oldest player in the history of English football to sign a contract with a professional football club at the age of 50.

He had his most successful years at Leicester City where he played 161 times and helped the foxes win the Football League Cup in the 1996-1997 season. He was 41 and 164 days old when he played his last game in the premiere league for Bolton, making him the 7th oldest premier league players of all time.

Neville Southall - 41 years and 178 days

Nicknamed as the Big Nev for his incredibly large figure, Neville Southall is the 6th player in the list of oldest premier league players of all time. Southall was famous for being a bin man before becoming a professional footballer. He started his career at Bury in 1980, before moving to Everton one year later. He spent an incredible seventeen years at the Gudison Park and won almost every possible trophy along the way.

An unbelievable fact about Southall's career is that he signed for 14 different clubs in the final four years of his career without playing a single game for 9 of them. He is the record holder in the history of 

for most league appearances (578), most FA Cup appearances (70), most League Cup appearances (65), and most clean sheets (269). He played exactly 900 games in his career and his last Premier League game was for Bradford City in 2000 at the age of 41 years and 178 days.

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Brad Friedel – 42 years and 176 days

The Benjamin Button of football world, Bran Friedel always seemed to get better with age. He has a difficult spell at

but later moved to Blackburn and established himself as one of the best goalkeepers of the premiere league. Friedel continued his fine form in Aston villa and Tottenham, eventually became the only player in the history of EPL with 310 consecutive appearances.

He played 557 games in his career, 450 of them in the premiere league. In 2012, he broke an 80-years-old 'The Record and became the oldest player in the history of Tottenham to feature in a game. Nicknamed Human Wall" by his fans, Friedel was 42 years and 176 days old when he played his last game for Tottenham in 2013.

Steve Ogrizovic – 42 years and 236 days

Steve Ogrizovic is fourth in the list oldest players in the history of Premiere League. He played a total of 611 games in his 23-years career. 507 of them played in the 16 years he spent at

. He played 16 games for chesterfield in 1977 before joining Liverpool the same year. He struggled to establish himself at Anfield and was the third choice goalkeeper behind two legends of the game, Ray Clemence and Bruce Grobbelaar. After a two-year spell at Shrewsbury Town, he moved to Coventry City, where he had his most successful years.

He won the FA Cup with the Sky Blues at 1987 and somehow even managed to score a goal from open play. In October 1986 he scored his team's equalizer in the 2-2 draw with Sheffield Wednesday. His last game came on May 2000, also against Sheffield at the age of 42 years and 236 days. Ogrizovic was one of the few football players who pursuit another sport at the professional level. Playing few games of cricket for clubs like Shropshire and Minor Counties.

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Alec Chamberlain – 42 years and 327 days

Third record-holder in the list of oldest premier league players of all time, Alec Chamberlain had successful spells Luton Town and Sunderland, but he is most famous for his 11-years stay at Watford. He played 678 games as a professional footballer from 1981 to 2007, 247 of those for

. Chamberlain is one of the few players to sign a contract with all the three Merseyside clubs, although he was merely a second-choice goalkeeper at Everton and Liverpool and did not feature in any matches.

Chamberlain won the Charity Shield with Everton in 1987 and the Football League Cup with Liverpool in the 1994-1995 season. In 2006 he helped Watford to promote to the Premiere League and signed a new one-year contract. On May 2007, he played his last game for Watford at the age of 42 years and 327 days. 

Mark Schwarzer – 43 years and 32 days

One of the

oldest Premier League players ever

, The Australian goalkeeper played 625 games in his 26-years long career in football, 562 of them in the premiere league. His best years was from 1997 to 2008 in

, where he played 367 games and won the Football League Cup in 2003-2004. Later in his career he got famous for winning many titles with Chelsea and Leicester city without playing many games.

One of the best games of his career was Chelsea in their 2-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield in which he won the game for the blues with many outstanding saves. His clean-sheet against Liverpool was his 150th clean sheet in the premiere league. A feat only achieved by two other goalkeepers, Peter Cech and David James.

Schwarzer played in two world cups for Australia and is the most-capped player in the history of Australian national team. He also has many records to his name in his three most prolific clubs, some of the most important ones are:

• Most international appearances as a Middlebrough player with 53 games

• Oldest player in Chelsea's history at the age of 41 years and 218 days.

• Second player in the list of oldest premier league players of all time and oldest player in Leicester City's history with 43 years and 32 day.

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John Burridge – 43 years and 163 days

The oldest player to play in premier league, John Burridge began his career in 1969 at Workington. During his 30-years career he incredibly joined 29 different clubs and played 711 games as a goalkeeper. A More interesting fact is that he didn't play a single game for the last 8 clubs he signed for. His best achievements at the club level was winning the League Cup with

in 1977.

 Burridge was one of the few professional football players who studied sport in a scientific way. He was an expert in Diets and was among the first goalkeepers to use Latex gloves. His best years were at Sheffield United, where he played 109 times from 1984 to 1987.  John Burridge's last game in the Premiere League came back in 1995, for

at the old age of 43 years and 163 days. He is officially oldest premier league players of all time and no one looks set to break his record any time soon.

What do you think about our list of oldest premier league players of all time? Do you think any player can break the record any time soon? Do you know who are the oldest premier league players still playing? Let us know in the comments.

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