The story of Robert Carmona, the longest-lived active player in the world: “At 60 I could play in the First Division every Sunday”

There is a Uruguayan who played until he got bored. Sebastian Abreu He began his career in 1994 and finished it in 2021 to complete a 27-year career with a journey that took him from the big leagues to others. There is another that debuted as a pro the same year that the Crazy was born and has not yet hung up his boots. “There’s Carmona for a while”repeat Roberto Carmona with 60 compliments and 46 uninterrupted as a footballer, and counting …

Or rather, how worker with the ball. He started earning money as a child by playing on street corners. When he was older, he alternated his professional career in clubs and in informal or underground leagues. His life is like a movie. Literal: soon one will come out with their stories. Each year he beats the record for the longest-running active footballer published by Guinness and he feels that every interview he offers is an opportunity for someone at FIFA to decide to do something with a unique case, his own.

There is not an older active footballer in the world. The Uruguayan Carmona at 60 competes in the D of the Uruguayan Football Federation (AUF) in the social and sports club Give life a goal, emerged from the homonymous foundation, of which he is also president. It is the first time that he plays in an institute that has him in other areas, they have always hired him for his conditions.

Its physical fullness is the study of science. Why can Carmona continue the business? A medical report will soon offer some features that make it special. The key is healthy eating and exercise. Train every day. If the routines are less in the club, he puts it on his own. There are no excesses. Conditions with the ball and body and mind in such conditions that this relationship lasts a lifetime and, moreover, is its sustenance.

She was looking for him at that moment Phoenix for the Uruguayan elite, but failed the test due to a recent meniscus operation. He went inside Uruguay to play the league and informal leagues, which took him to Canada or Puerto Rico. At that time there was a $ 10,000 jackpot. Recently he got a call to find out if he wanted to come back, there are 80,000 at stake.

-Has he always fed you the ball?

-Lifetime. My father died very young, at 35. When we lost my father, I was nine. Even though we weren’t bad financially, there was bad administration, I don’t know what happened and, well, I cornered myself and did what it is today freestyle: I dominated the ball sitting, I played little games with my head, I dominated it quite a bit and people gave me money. We would gather at the doors of the clubs and bet with the grocers, sometimes it was food, I always did business with my football participation, I always got paid, it was my job and somehow they had to pay me.

-Is not having reached the First Division a thorn?

-No not at all. I am happy with what I have achieved. I certainly did not play, or I attribute it to him, to the fact that I made the wrong deals, or I chose the wrong clubs or the economic moments … But my and my family’s urgency was such as to justify that I preferred the weekly payment . I was paid weekly. Even if it is second, third or fourth category. I had the opportunity to go to Palma de Mallorca in 1985-86. I didn’t go because the US thing came up and there they told me I was going to make money very quickly and it was like that: I was sending my mother over two or three thousand dollars a month. I had no regrets. I didn’t play in the First Division, but I became the longest-serving player in the world and was a key or important player in some teams I was on. I am satisfied with the profession and how I manage it and how I live it day by day. Maybe if there was a player in the major leagues, he couldn’t be the oldest today.

– Because right now …

-I think playing in the First Division is easier. All my life I’ve played in Seconds, Thirds, Quarters … and it’s not easy to play. I watch football from any country and even if there is more level, more verticality, more speed and better players, I think it would be easier for me. There are more spaces, fewer contacts, less friction and less violence. They take better care of you. At 60, I would like to tell you that I could play, alternate, in a First Division football team in some country. I’m sure I can contribute because of my experience, how I manage on the pitch, my physical condition, which is slower than a young man, but I can.

-What could you contribute?

-The touch of the first, good pass, good shot, mental speed because I have it. And this works in my favor because I have a lot of experience and I see that not all First Division players are 100% suited to be there. Except for cracks and mega stars. Eliminate Messi, Neymar, Ronaldo, Dybala … there shouldn’t be 30 players of the same level. On each campus you take five or six and the rest is normal.

-If they call you today from a First Division club in Uruguay or Argentina, will you go?

– Totally. If they give me the opportunity. Always with a lot of respect for the great players, make it clear what I say: I don’t want to sound ridiculous or offend anyone. But I am encouraged that if they treat me the same, they respect me like any footballer, they don’t discriminate against me, nor ignore the experience I have, I can contribute. Of course, if you make me face a River or Boca defender, they leave me and I go to the stands. If they do not play even two minutes, now if they behave with the system and the mechanism of making play, work on the system of the field and run to make it work for the team, I encourage 15, 30 minutes, yes. Do you think that (all fit), Diego Forlán, Chino (Álvaro) Recoba, in Uruguayan football, or (Juan) Riquelme in Argentinian, can’t play quiet 40 minutes against a line, playing and playing?

Yes, I guess they could …

-There is! Me too and I’m not one of them. Buffón saves with 44 … okay, I’m 60, but I dare to play for half an hour every Sunday.