When Do Football Players Retire?

Football players generally retire in their mid-thirties. Injuries, boredom, or illness cause players to retire in their twenties or early thirties, but not always. There have, however, always been football players who managed to play into their forties, some into their fifties, although not always at the highest level. 

Goalkeepers and defensive positions in football allow players to play longer than the attacking positions. SportsBoom understands that modern science, health and fitness, and better nutrition have seen professional footballers play for longer than players from twenty or thirty years ago and retire later than previous generations. 

Cristiano Ronaldo//Getty Images

Reasons Why Football Players Retire

There are many reasons why football players retire. Age and injuries are some of the principal causes of retirement. Money is a factor, especially with the inflated transfer fees and wages footballers get in the modern game. Some footballers lose their passion for the sport because they earn millions of dollars, pounds, or euros.

Footballers can afford to retire early even if they are still in the prime of their careers because they are financially stable. Players make fortunes playing football. Rogue leagues in China and Saudi Arabia lure players away from the best football leagues in the world with excessive riches. Qatar and the United Arab Emirates changed the football landscape. These powerful sovereign wealth funds have driven up the prices of players and wages.

Younger players in their prime used to go to China, now the Saudi Pro League target them. Players earn astronomical wages instead of playing in Europe in the best leagues, playing for the biggest trophies. Even Cristiano Ronaldo, the best forward in the world, could not turn down the immense wealth offered by the Saudi royal family. Ronaldo might not be in his prime and closing in on forty, but he is good enough to play in the English Premier League or La Liga. 

There are a multitude of intangibles that differentiate professional athletes from amateurs. Skill and sporting intelligence increases the higher the level of sport, but the great intangible nobody can train or acquire is speed. Nothing compares to raw pace and power. When a football player’s pace diminishes, it often spells the end of his high-level performance. As we get older, we get slower. 

Gianluigi Buffon celebrates with FIFA World  trophy //Getty Images

Which Positions in Football Retire Earlier?

Usually, only goalkeepers can push the forty mark and still play professional football at the highest level. Gianluigi Buffon, widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, retired in 2023, aged 45. His career spanned 28 years of professional football. He made his Serie A debut for Parma, aged 17 in 1995. The 2006 FIFA World Cup winner retired at the same club in 2023 after three decades at the highest level.

If central defenders stay fit and avoid serious injury, they play into their late thirties more than any other position. Defenders and defensive midfielders play longer than the attacking midfielders and the forwards. Paolo Maldini, the great Italian defender, played 25 seasons for AC Milan. Maldini made his debut in 1984, and he retired in 2009 at the age of 41. 

On the other hand, some players get injured and are forced to retire. The 2018 FIFA World Cup-winning France defender Raphaël Varane announced his retirement, aged 31, in 2024. After joining Como at the beginning of the 2024/25 Serie A season, he retired due to a serious knee injury. Enoch Mwepu is another example of a young football player retiring in his prime because of an illness. Mwepu starred for Brighton & Hove Albion but retired in 2022, aged 24, because of a hereditary heart condition. 

Bolton Wanderers central midfielder Fabrice Muamba also retired because of a heart problem. In 2012, Muamba suffered a cardiac arrest during an English Premier League game against Tottenham Hotspur and collapsed on the pitch. He was unconscious, and his heart stopped for 78 minutes. Once he recovered, he had to retire or risk death.