Спортын шинжлэх ухааны судалгаагаар дэлхийн шилдэг тамирчдын карьер улам бүр уртсах хандлагатай байгаа нь тогтоогджээ.
Олон улсын хөл бөмбөгийн тэмцээнүүдийн статистик мэдээллээс үзэхэд тамирчдын дундаж нас сүүлийн хэдэн арван жилд тасралтгүй өсөж байна. Тухайлбал, 1992-1993 оны улирлын УЕФА Аваргуудын лигийн тоглогчдын дундаж нас 24.9 байсан бол 2017-2018 оны улиралд 26.5 болж нэмэгджээ. Энэхүү хандлага нь 2026 оны Дэлхийн аварга шалгаруулах тэмцээнд 40 болон түүнээс дээш настай найман тамирчин оролцсоноор тод харагдаж байна.
Шинжлэх ухааны судалгаагаар тамирчид 20 насны дунд үеэс хожуу үедээ бие бялдрын оргил түвшиндээ хүрдэг боловч 30 наснаас эхлэн тэсвэр тэвчээр, хурд буурдаг байна. Гэсэн хэдий ч туршлагатай тоглогчид тоглолтын тактик, байрлал эзлэх мэдрэмж, шийдвэр гаргах чадвараа ашиглан бие бялдрын сул талыг нөхөж чаддаг болжээ.
Спортын клубууд тамирчин бүрийн бэртэл гэмтлийн түүх, сэргэлт болон биеийн онцлогт тохирсон хувийн сургалтын хөтөлбөрийг хэрэгжүүлэх болсон нь амжилтыг урт хугацаанд хадгалах гол хүчин зүйл болж байна. Тухайлбал, Лионель Месси зэрэг ахмад тамирчид тоглолтын явцад эрчим хүчээ хэмнэж, тоглолтыг унших замаар өөрийн нөөц бололцоогоо оновчтой ашиглаж буй нь үүний тод жишээ юм.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
Mere moments after Argentina lost to France in a Round of 16 match during the 2018 World Cup in Russia, commentators were already predicting it would be his final time on a World Cup pitch. “This was Lionel Messi’s final World Cup match, surely,” one stated, “and maybe his final game for his country.” Messi was 31 at the time, and many assumed they had just watched his last appearance on soccer’s biggest stage.
They were wrong.
Instead, Messi came back four years later to lift the trophy in Qatar. Then he came back again this year at 39. However, Messi is not the exception any more.
Cristiano Ronaldo, 41, has said that this World Cup will be his last after Portugal’s Round of 16 exit following the team’s loss to Spain. Brazil’s Neymar, 34, too, announced his retirement from international football, as did Germany’s Manuel Neuer, 40. Meanwhile, Guillermo Ochoa, who turned 41 this month, is stepping away from professional football after becoming the first goalkeeper to make six World Cup squads.
Even as this World Cup has felt like one long farewell tour, for many of these players, the goodbye came years later than anyone expected.
While there isn’t a definitive global dataset comparing retirement ages across generations, the evidence points in one direction: football’s elite has been getting older for decades. A 2019 peer-reviewed study published in Frontiers of Psychology tracking nearly 30 seasons of UEFA Champions League football found the average age of players rose from 24.9 years in 1992-93 to 26.5 years by 2017-18. That trend is now on full display at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which had eight players in their forties—more than every previous edition combined—including Cape Verde’s 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha, one of the tournament’s breakout stars.
What’s striking is that this celebration of more veteran players on the pitch is happening during an era of football that has produced teenage stars like Lamine Yamal, Endrick, and Bara Sapoko Ndiaye. Soccer isn’t necessarily getting older because young players have disappeared; it’s getting older because veterans are leaving later.
Research suggests professional footballers still reach their physical peak in their mid-to-late twenties, though the exact age depends on position. And while aging is gradual, players in their thirties begin to lose their explosive speed and the stamina to maintain the high-intensity running that modern soccer demands most.
A long-term study of Spain’s top players found these reported losses in endurance were most notable among external defenders, external midfielders, and forwards, whose roles rely on explosive acceleration to either score a goal or shield their keeper’s box. Central defenders and central midfielders, meanwhile, became more accurate passers with age, suggesting that positioning, anticipation, and decisionmaking increasingly compensate for fading speed.
Messi may be the best example of how elite players adapt with age. Rather than constantly chasing the ball, he often spends long stretches walking, reading the game before deciding exactly when to get involved. According to The Athletic, FIFA tracking data shows Messi has spent 63 percent of his movement at this World Cup walking, conserving energy for the moments that matter most.
This just goes to prove that sports science hasn’t changed the biology of aging—it changed how soccer clubs respond to it. A 2024 review of athletes with extended careers found a correlation between professionals staying at the top of their game and increasingly individualized training.
Instead of prescribing the same program to an entire squad, coaches now tailor workloads around a player’s injury history, recovery, training response, and physical capacity.
However, as players get older, experience becomes a competitive advantage. Veteran footballers increasingly compensate for declining physicality with sharper decisionmaking, game intelligence, and a better understanding of their own limits.
