Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are once again being celebrated for World Cup records and along with the likes of Manuel Neuer and Luka Modrić symbolize a new age trend in elite football.
Whereas players used to be considered past their prime in their early 30s, today a large group of significantly older national team stars are still around and a new saying seems to apply: 40 is the new 30.
When Yamal and Karl had not even been born
Portuguese icon Ronaldo is 41 years old, while Argentine Messi celebrates his 39th birthday during the tournament.
Like Mexico’s goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa (40), the two serial World Players of the Year are set for their sixth World Cup.
When this generation first burst onto the World Cup stage in 2006, Spain star Lamine Yamal and German hopeful Lennart Karl had not even been born.
“These two players are extraordinary. No one has shaped football over the last 20 or 30 years the way they have. So many titles, so many achievements, such ambition. It is extraordinarily phenomenal,” former Germany coach Joachim Löw said about Messi and Ronaldo.
But Löw also stated that "both are already a little past their peak.”
But Messi and Ronaldo remain influential, just like Germany goalkeeper Neuer (40), the last German World Cup winner from 2014 still in the national team, Croatia playmaker Modrić (40), and Bosnia-Herzegovina icon Edin Džeko (40).
Age remains a factor in injuries
“Twenty years ago, an outfield player in his mid-30s was almost automatically considered old. Today, with Messi, Ronaldo, or Neuer, we see athletes who appear biologically much younger than their passport age,” sports medicine expert Professor Hans-Georg Predel told dpa.
He said that “a great generation of global stars” has extended careers “far beyond what was previously possible in top-level football.”
However, age remains a risk factor for injuries.
“Age and previous injuries—and the two are connected,” long-time German national team doctor Tim Meyer told Der Spiegel magazine.
After years of physical strain, joints, tendons, and ligaments reach their limits and "as a result, an increasingly large proportion of injuries among older athletes can at least be classified as overuse injuries.”
Meyer says he lacks “reliable data” for a final assessment whether this means a major change in career trajectories overall.
Like a Formula One project
Professional football is structured very differently today than it was in the past. Nutrition, load management, prevention, sleep, data-driven work and much more — progress has been enormous.
“In the past, teams trained collectively. Today, each player is managed individually almost like a Formula One project,” Predel said.
Moreover, the longer careers are also rooted in the system itself, such as through academies.
“Anyone who learns at the age of 12 or 13 how to eat properly and recover effectively carries that knowledge with them. This is structural professionalization, not a biological miracle,” Meyer said.
The World Cup veterans: Milla and several goalkeepers
The oldest outfield player remains legendary Roger Milla, who played for Cameroon in the United States in 1994 at the age of 42.
Two goalkeepers were even older: Egypt’s Essam El Hadary (45 in 2018) and Colombia’s Faryd Mondragón (43 in 2014). Scotland’s goalkeeper Craig Gordon (43) could join this group at the 2026 World Cup.
The statistics underscore the trend: At the 1982 World Cup, featuring Italy’s legendary goalkeeper Dino Zoff, there were fewer than a dozen players over the age of 35 in the squads.
Since then, the number has steadily increased from tournament to tournament. There have never been more than three dozen such veteran stars in a World Cup field as there are now in 2026.
Despite all the professionalism and dedication, even superstars cannot overcome natural limits.
“Maximum sprinting ability, explosiveness, and recovery speed begin to decline biologically from around the age of 30. What elite players achieve today is primarily a delay of this process,” Predel said.
Messi and Ronaldo are also helped by the fact that they can continue playing in less competitively demanding environments in the United States and Saudi Arabia.
Has the game become more intelligent?
Experience cannot be replaced, and World Cup tournaments in particular reward routine and leadership.
“Experience and football intelligence have become increasingly valuable in modern football. A player like Messi partially compensates for age-related declines through outstanding technique, anticipation, and efficiency. In that sense, the game has become more intelligent,” Predel said.
As the World Cup’s record appearance maker, Messi can further increase his current total of 26 matches. He is also just three goals short of the record 16 scored by Germany Miroslav Klose.
Ronaldo enters the World Cup countdown as the all-time international appearance record holder with 226 caps.
“I’m keeping my fingers crossed for these brilliant titans of football,” Predel said.
