Kurt Meyer celebrates his wonder goal (Pic: ARD)

All about who can run the fastest, shot the hardest and tackle the strongest?

Tell that to 80-year-old Kurt Meyer, who plays regularly for Blau-Weiß-Post Recklinghausen, a team for 'senior' players.

There seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary when he lined up against FC Jung-Siegfried Hillerheide last month.

But the Hillerheide defence was caught napping when he collected the ball on the edge of the area from winger Bruno Löper, a sprightly and positively youthful 42.

Meyer turned and sent a curling right-ffoot shot beyond Hillerheide goalkeeper Wolfgang Kosowski and into the top corner of the net.

A video of the goal made it's way to German TV station ARD where viewers voted his strike Goal Of The Month - easily beating the more likely candidates from the Bundesliga.

Meyer played in the Oberliga, precursor to the Bundesliga, before the Second World War.

By 1950 he was playing semi-professional football with SUS 13, a club that couldn't afford to pay it's players, but did reward goalscorers with a loaf of bread.

His love of the game continued and by the 1980s the pensioner was installed as an unlikely Youth Coach with a club called Abwehr-Spielers.

And so the great-grandfather lived a life of quiet and happy obscurity, playing the game we all love. Until one more moment of magic brought him a place in the spotlight.

With the crisis of Germany's Euro2000 flops still a painful memory, there must be a slim chance of Meyer being called up to the national side. We shall see.

Not bad for one of the few footballers who is even older than Lothar Mattheus!