MEDJA (Serbia) (AFP)

For more than half a century, Dragisa Kosnic has been on the football fields and at almost 67 years old, he is not about to hang up his boots.

Every Sunday, he still feels the ball with teammates of whom he could be the grandfather.

"Kole", as he is nicknamed, still lives in the modest house where he was born in 1954, in his native village of Medja, in north-eastern Serbia.

Undoubtedly one of the oldest active football players in Europe, he survives only with the minimum retirement pension, less than 130 euros.

Thanks also to a few goats and sheep.

But his real passion is the round ball.

Dragisa Kosnic plays with Proleter de Medja, in the Serbian sixth division, with teammates who are up to 50 years younger than him.

Every weekend "Kole", who was fired for the first time in 1968, puts his used crampons and knee pads on the back of his rickety old Yougo 45 and walks to the village soccer field.

"To my knowledge, there are no licensed players (of my age) and if there are any, I would like to meet them and play a game with them," he told AFP.

On this sunny Sunday at the start of autumn, Proleter Medja is playing against the neighboring village of Nova Cernja.

Sure, his teammates run faster, but "Kole" defends himself, pulling in some crucial interceptions that allow them to win 2-1 over their opponents.

Each year, to renew their license, the veteran must undergo demanding medical examinations.

The player admits being sometimes overtaken by his age.

“It's a level of football where you don't really need endurance,” he explains, however.

"I play more game reading so I know when to start running and sprinting. But the next two days I have aches, I limp, but I take a hot bath and two days later I'm ready to play again. ".

The veteran defensive midfielder enjoyed his heyday in the late 1970s with Proleter Zrenjanin.

It was the heyday of the Serbian club, which played in the Yugoslav second division but in 1978 succeeded in eliminating the giants of Hajduk Split in the Yugoslavia Cup.

Inspired by the enthusiasm of the spectators, Kole had played the match of his career so well that the managers of the Croatian club, impressed, invited him to sign.

Luck was not there, however.

Four days after Hajduk Split's offer, he broke his leg in another match.

At 25, his career was over and he began a hard life of physical labor in his village of Medja.

The doctors had advised him not to touch a ball again but he never let go of his passion.

He attributes his longevity to genetics and his rather frugal diet.

The milk from his two goats is the cornerstone of his diet.

"I never cut out milk, at least a liter a day. Bread and honey. I eat eggs, not much. When there is meat, I eat it, when there is none. no, I eat that ".

© 2020 AFP