Champions League winner and World Cup finalist comes out of retirement and launches comeback in fourth division aged 41

One of the world’s best footballers this millennium has come out of retirement to play football at the age of 41.

The playmaker enjoyed a glittering 18-year career winning league titles in the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Turkey as well as the Champions League and reaching a World Cup final.

He retired in August 2019 but six years and six months later, he has done a U-turn and laced up his football boots once more.

And the player in question? Wesley Sneijder.

On Saturday, the former Netherlands international turned out for OSM’75 in the Dutch fourth division amateur league.

He came on with 20 minutes left in the second half with his cameo a successful one as his new side won 1-0 at home against Focus ’07.

Sneijder won 16 major honours as a player – including the Treble with Inter in 2009-10

Upon coming on, Sneijder was handed the captain’s armband as hundreds of spectators attended to see him in action in Maarssenbroek, a town in the province of Utrecht.

It was a family affair for Sneijder who chose to play for the outfit because his older brother Jeffrey is an assistant coach there, and his younger brother Rodney also plays for the team.

Reflecting on how the opportunity came about, Sneijder told Dutch broadcaster Ziggo: ‘I jokingly said at the coach’s birthday party that I’ll join in sometime, because they kept asking me. But then I had to officially register, that’s just how it is. It was quite a challenge.

‘Nobody officially knew about it, but it somehow got around. I just wanted to have fun and spend a nice afternoon with the guys, and I did.

‘I’ve always said football is still the best sport. If you can still play it, why shouldn’t you? Sitting in the locker room with the lads after the game is simply wonderful.’

During his heyday, Sneijder won 16 major honours – winning trophies at Ajax, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Galatasaray Galatasaray and Qatari side Al-Gharafa.

His most successful came in 2009-10 when he won an iconic Treble with Inter as they collected Serie A, Coppa Italia and Champions League glory. At the end of that season he came close to international success too as his Netherlands side reached the 2010 World Cup final before losing to Spain in extra-time courtesy of Andres Iniesta’s late goal.

Sneijder won 134 caps for his country, scoring 31 goals with his last cap coming in 2-1 win over Peru in September 2018. He retired from club football just under a year later at Al-Gharafa to take up a role at his hometown club Utrecht in the Eredivisie as a director.