Angloma is Still Playing? He’s 42!

By: Cesar | June 6th, 2007

I was rattling my brain, trying to think of something to say today … there’s Vicente in MARCA saying he hopes he comes back next season as the player he once was, there’s a Spain game today (against Liechtenstein … if they don’t win, it’s an abomination), 6 Valencia players involved (including Angulo, which I STILL don’t understand) and there’s a derby this weekend against Levante. Oh, and former Che coach Luis Aragones is leaving the national team after the Euros …

But this is what struck me, a piece from my home town’s heralded New York Times.
Jocelyn Angloma, famed Valencia defender is coming out of retirement to play in the Concacaf Gold Cup, the North and Central America’s equivalent of the Euros.

People, he’s 42 years old! He retired in 2004 and he’s back!

Soccer writer Jack Bell tells the story better than I ever could:

Perhaps the most interesting team in the Gold Cup is Guadeloupe, a collection of Caribbean islands that remains a French overseas department — a colony, which means it is not a member of FIFA. Guadeloupe is an associate member of Concacaf, the regional confederation, and will be playing in its first international tournament on the senior level. Its small population, less than 500,000, has managed to send a handful of players to France to play for the national team and for some top club teams in Europe. That list includes Lilian Thuram, Louis Saha, William Gallas, Sylvain Wiltord and Mikael Sylvestre.

More remarkably, midfielder/defender Jocelyn Angloma, who will turn 42 on Aug. 7, came out of retirement last year and is on the team’s Gold Cup roster. He has played more than 400 games professionally in France for Rennes, Lille, Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille; in Italy for Torino and Inter Milan; and in Spain for Valencia.

Although Angloma played 37 times internationally for France, he is permitted to play for his native Guadeloupe because he now plays for an amateur team.

Wow, maybe he can be sporting director next year? Take over for our geriatric defender turned administrator Carboni?