England over-75s captain relishing Germany clash

England's over-75s captain has described an upcoming match marking the anniversary of the 1966 World Cup final as the biggest of his career.

Geoff Martel, 81, will lead the Silver Lions out at Oldham Athletic's Boundary Park stadium on 30 July to face Germany.

Not only will it mark the 60th anniversary of England's 4-2 victory at Wembley, but it comes nine months on from the Veterans World Cup, where Martel's team finished runners up to Germany.

Martel, who is from Guernsey, said he was confident his side would "give a good account" of themselves.

"There's still a lot of things that we've got to do before the match, like make sure we're fully fit," Martel told BBC Radio Guernsey.

"We played them two years ago down in Cardiff and we had a World Cup down there and we beat them semi finals.

"Then when we played them out in Japan they were much better because it turns out they had several ex-Bundesliga players in their side."

Martel said the Germans would be "wanting to cause an upset" and he had already been in touch with their manager.

"We had a Zoom call with him and you can tell they are really up for it and, like me, he is considering this the biggest game he's been involved with."

While it will be a full match of 90 minutes, Martel said it would not compare to the physical demands the squads getting ready to play the 2026 World Cup are set to face.

"Tournament football is unbelievable difficult," he said.

"They are fortunate because we don't have the physios and people working in the background that they do, but even then it's still very hard."

He added: "We've been fortunate because we've been able to have the players together and I think we've got a very good squad."

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