Former Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool players are among professional footballers refusing to succumb to the passage of time and continuing their careers below the Football League in 2025-26.
While many professionals fall out of love with football after years in the profession – which is bonkers to us, but there are surely several reasons why it happens – others are hopeless addicts that need to get their fix wherever possible.
Here are 11 former pros who all share an undying love for the game and are rolling back the years in non-league football.
Charlie Austin
After 18 months back at Swindon and helping AFC Totton reach the National League South for the first time last year, Austin has headed to Hampshire to sign for Basingstoke Town.
The Southern League Premier Division South club revealed that they asked their fans to help fund the high-profile transfer.
“This is a huge moment for the club, and it starts with one word: thanks. Our fans made this happen,” Basingstoke manager Dan Brownlie said.
“We were nervous about even sending the email (to our members) to see if there was an appetite to help make it happen. It’s not how things are usually done, but it proved the power of this football club.
“That mix of willingness, positivity, and a shared sense of responsibility turned the seemingly impossible into reality.
“It’s been so heartening the way everyone has played their part.”
Jefferson Montero
Many observers were left scratching their heads when Montero signed for FC St Helens in the ninth tier of English football.
The former Swansea City star has rarely settled in one place for long, having played for 10 different clubs over the last seven years.
We assumed the 35-year-old would still be going at a relatively high level, but the project at St Helens enticed the former Ecuador international.
“He knows our sporting director Mark Hayes and does a bit of work with him,” manager Michael Smith told BBC Radio Merseyside in January 2025.
“He wanted to look further up the pyramid but we managed to convince him to come down and have a look and see what he thought.”
Montero won 64 caps for Ecuador and played at the 2014 World Cup. He’s now lining up against the likes of Chadderton, Pilkington and West Didsbury & Chorlton.
Grant Holt
Prolific spells at Rochdale, Nottingham Forest and Norwich City made Holt a cult hero and it seems the 44-year-old is still technically playing at non-league level.
In February 2024, he was part of a consortium that formed a partnership with Dereham Town.
As part of this, he was registered as a player for the Eastern Counties League Premier Division side. Intriguingly, he is listed as a defender on the club’s squad page.
Adam melts it
Having recently enjoyed spells in Australia, India and Scotland, Le Fondre returned to England last summer and joined FC United of Manchester in the seventh tier.
The 38-year-old still seems to have a sharp eye for goal, having scored 17 goals for the club last season.
Interestingly, alongside his playing career, the former Reading forward also works as a video scout for the City Football Group.
Leroy Lita
The former Reading forward has been playing non-league football since 2018 and currently turns out for Barwell FC in the Southern League Premier Division Central.
Since dropping down to non-league football, the 40-year-old has played for 10 different clubs and boasts a pretty good scoring record for each of them.
Nile Ranger
“I know I have baggage,” Ranger told BBC Sport last year. “If I had behaved I would have stayed at the top, but I was too unruly.”
After some notable moments in the Premier League and EFL, Ranger now plays in the seventh tier of English football at Kettering Town.
Still just 33 years old, we in no doubt that he has the natural ability to play at a higher level, but off-field issues have regularly stunted his professional career.
Marvin Sordell
Sordell made 17 Premier League appearances in his heyday but never managed to score a goal in the top flight.
The former Watford and Bolton forward enjoyed his most prolific years when playing in the Championship and he’s still got some magic left in his boots yet.
After initially retiring from professional football at the age of 28 due to mental health reasons, the 34-year-old came out of retirement earlier this year to join Kettering Town.
He has since moved on to Southern League Division One Central club Rayners Lane.
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Gary Hooper
After enjoying stints in Australia, New Zealand, India, Cyprus and the UAE, Hooper returned to England and has played non-league football for Barnet and Kettering Town.
The former Celtic and Norwich striker is now playing for Essex club Maldon & Tiptree, who participate in the Isthmian League North Division.
Michael Woods
A York native who began at Leeds’ academy, Chelsea saw Woods as a good enough prospect to pay £150,000 for him as a youngster.
He was also taken with England to the under-20 World Cup in 2009, though he did not play a minute.
Two years later, the midfielder was without a club, when he was released by Chelsea, having been included in a first-team squad just twice, but never playing.
He was first picked up by Yeovil, who released him after six months, and a second League One side in Doncaster Rovers signed him up.
From there, Woods got his first taste of non-league football, making a free transfer to Harrogate Town.
He returned to the 92 with Hartlepool, but has played non-league football since they were relegated from League Two in 2016-17.
Woods has since played for Harrogate, Dover, York, South Shields, Scarborough and now Whitby Town.
Gavin hoyte
Son of British Olympian sprinter Wendy Hoyte and younger brother of Invincibles fringe player Justin, Hale End graduate Gavin broke through in the late noughties and made four Premier League appearances for Arsene Wenger’s Gunners.
The defender was frequently loaned away and eventually joined Dagenham & Redbridge after being released by his parent club in 2012.
That kicked off a respectable career in the lower reaches of the English football pyramid, culminating in him earning three caps for Trinidad and Tobago a decade ago.
After moving around, he spent a settled five years with Maidstone United, making over 150 appearances for the club and captaining the side as they flitted between the National League South and National League.
The 35-year-old now plays for Sittingbourne in the Isthmian League South East Division.
Adam Hammill
Hammill joined the Liverpool academy at the age of nine and spent 14 years at the club before he left in 2009.
While the midfielder didn’t quite make the grade at Anfield, he has gone on to enjoy a good career for himself in the EFL.
After spending the majority of his career playing in the Championship, he dropped down to non-league in 2019-20.
Now aged 37, he currently plays for Maghull in the North West Counties League Division One North. Proper mouthful, that.
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