When Jefferson Louis made his senior football debut for Risborough Rangers in 1996, nobody would have expected him to still be playing in 2025.
But the London-born Dominica international made his 51st and final transfer for a fourth spell at Thame United last year before finally calling it a day.
Louis’ career took him up and down the divisions and from the south of England to the north of Wales and back again, with stops in the north-east and East Anglia along the way just to make sure all the compass points were ticked off.
Jefferson Louis somehow never played for Harrow Borough
Among the Londoner’s many clubs lurk some stints in the Football League and in the upper reaches of non-league football for some of its biggest names.
Oxford United gave him his league debut and, in 2002, he scored the goal that took Oxford past rivals Swindon Town to set up an FA Cup third round tie against Arsenal, the team he supports.
The draw was shown live on television and Louis hit the headlines when the BBC camera in the Oxford dressing room caught the reaction of the players to the blockbuster draw.
“An ecstatic Louis jumped up and, forgetting about the camera, showed his backside to the nation as he leapt from one end of the dressing room to the other with only a towel covering his manhood,” reported BBC Sport later.
But the Harrow lad wasn’t long for the U’s and embarked upon a career journey that hasn’t been matched anywhere else in the world.
His clubs included Wrexham, Woking, Worthing, Weymouth, Whitehawk and Wealdstone, and both Banbury United and Brackley Town.
He played for the likes of Bristol Rovers, Lincoln City, Newport County, Crawley Town, Mansfield Town and Stevenage Borough, as well as heading north for spells with Gainsborough Trinity and Darlington.
Louis played for Gravesend & Northfleet, Havant & Waterlooville, Rushden & Diamonds, Hayes & Yeading and Hampton & Richmond, not to mention both Slough Town and Staines Town.
His legendary career, which came to an end with his appointment as assistant first team coach at former club Slough, totals an estimated 900 appearances and compares only to that of the great Kazuyoshi Miura.
King Kazu can’t claim the extraordinary club list boasted by Louis but he has outlasted the 46-year-old.
Now 58, Miura decided to embark on a 40th season as a professional footballer with Atletico Suzuka in Japan’s fourth tier in 2025, four decades after making his senior debut for Brazilian giants Santos.
He was capped 89 times by Japan and clocked up more than 100 appearances for each of Yokohama FC, Vissel Kobe and Verdy Kawasaki (now Tokyo Verdy) in the J.League system.
