The World Cup for “quotas” and forty-year-olds is coming

Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo lead a generation that reaches its sixth World Cup. With more athletes over the age of 40, the 2026 tournament reinforces the trend of longer careers in elite football.

At the end of the 2022 World Cup, Lionel Messi was awarded best player of the tournament. At the time, it was uncertain whether the Argentine would return to compete in the competition.

Four years later, however, Messi returns to the pitch for one last participation alongside the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo. The two multiple winners of the World’s Best Player award are about to play in their sixth World Cup, together with Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, symbolizing a new age trend in elite football.

If players were previously considered beyond their prime in their early 30s, today a large group of national team stars are still active, significantly older.

Now, the 40 seems to be the new 30. In the almost 100 years of World Cup history, only seven players over the age of 40 had appeared for their national teams – six of them were goalkeepers.

However, with more teams participating, the 2026 tournament should shake up this statistic. In this age group alone, there are six called up who travel to the USA this month, with three outfield players – an absolute record.

Yamal and Endrick weren’t even born yet

Portuguese icon Ronaldo he is 41 years old and is the most prominent name in the 40+ group. Join the group alongside Ochoafrom Croatian midfielder Modric (40), from the icon of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Edin Dzeko (40), and goalkeepers Manuel Neuer (40), from Germany, and Craig Gordon (43), from Scotland.

Messi is not yet part of this group, as he turns 39 during the tournament. He adds another record: There have never been so many veterans over 35 years old in a football world cup or now, in 2026, when the total reaches around three dozen.

When this generation first appeared on the World Cup scene in 2006, the Spanish star Lamine Yamal had not yet been born. Neither did Brazilian striker Endrick. He was born 20 days after Brazil’s elimination to France in that year’s tournament.

“These two players [Messi e Cristiano] are extraordinary. No one has shaped football in the last 20 or 30 years the way they have. So many titles, so many achievements, so much ambition. It’s something extraordinarily phenomenal“, former Germany coach Joachim Löw told German news agency DPA.

Löw also understands that “both are a little past their prime“Still, Messi and Ronaldo continue to be influential in the games they play in, as does German goalkeeper Neuer (40), Germany’s last world champion in 2014. The player had announced the reform of the national team in 2024, but he backtracked.

Age remains a risk for injuries

“20 years ago, a 35-year-old field player was almost automatically considered old. Today, with Messi, Ronaldo or Neuer, we see athletes who look biologically much younger than the age on the passport“, sports medicine specialist Hans-Georg Predel told DPA.

According to him, “a great generation of global stars” extended their careers “far beyond what was previously possible in top-level football”.

Mass age continues to be a risk factor for injuries. In the Brazilian team, this has been a problem experienced by Neymar, called up for the tournament, but out of the friendlies due to a calf injury.

His physical form was considered a point of doubt in the list of athletes defined by coach Carlo Ancelotti, even though the player, at 34 years old, is younger than Messi and Cristiano. He helps raise the team’s average age to 29 years, six months and 29 days – the oldest team in the entire history of Brazilian participation in the competition.

“Age and previous injuries – and the two things are connected,” German team doctor Tim Meyer told German weekly Der Spiegel.

After years of physical exertion, joints, tendons and ligaments reach their limits and, “as a result, an increasing proportion of injuries among older athletes can at least be classified as overuse injuries“.

“Like a Formula 1 project”

Professional football today is structured very differently than in the past. Nutrition, load management, prevention, sleep, data-driven work and more – the progress has been enormous.

“In the past, teams trained collectively. Today, each player is managed individually, almost like a Formula 1 project,” said Predel.

Furthermore, longer careers also have roots in the system itself, as occurs in the youth teams.

“Those who learn at the age of 12 or 13 how to eat correctly and recover effectively take this knowledge for life. This is structural professionalization, not a biological miracle,” said Meyer.

World Cup veterans: Milla and several goalkeepers

Considering the current squad selection, which could still change until the start of the competition, the legendary Roger Millawho played for Cameroon in the United States in 1994, at the age of 42, will remain the oldest outfield player to appear in World Cups.

Two goalkeepers were even older: the Egyptian Essam El Hadary (45 in 2018) and Colombian Faryd Mondragón (43 in 2014).

Statistics reinforce the trend: in the 1982 World Cup, which featured the legendary Italian goalkeeper Dino Zoff, there were less than a dozen players with over 35 years in the national teams. Since then, the number has increased steadily from tournament to tournament.

The large presence of goalkeepers in this age group is considered natural. Not even superstars can overcome natural limits, such as speed and endurance ceilings.

“Maximum sprint capacity, explosiveness and recovery speed begin to biologically decline from around age 30. What elite players achieve today is mainly to delay this process,” said Predel.

Messi and Ronaldo are also helped by the fact that they can continue playing in less demanding competitive environments in the United States and Saudi Arabia.

Has the game gotten smarter?

Experience cannot be replaced, and tournaments like the World Cup in particular reward routine and leadership.

“Footballing experience and intelligence have become increasingly valuable in modern football. A player like Messi partially compensates for age-related declines through exceptional technique, anticipation and efficiency. In this sense, the game has become smarter”, said Predel.

As the record holder for World Cup appearances, Messi can further increase his current total of 26 appearances. It is also just three goals from the record 16scored by German Miroslav Klose. Ronaldo reaches the World Cup count as the absolute record holder for national team games, with 226 appearances.

“I’m rooting for these brilliant football titans,” said Predel.