Football players’ retirement is not consistent across the globe, largely depending on the intensity level of competition in which they compete.
Soccer players typically retire at the age of 35, and the average career length for a soccer player is 8 years. However, it is not unheard of for soccer players to continue well into their 40s. At the same time, soccer players from Latin America are known to play to a greater age than those in other countries.
Professional football careers can be highly profitable, but tend to last for only about eight years, and the median retirement age is 35 years. The average retirement age of pro football players is 35, but many stay at their peak fitness level and are capable of playing well beyond this. Goalkeepers, on average, retire at age 38, 3 years older than the average soccer outfielder.
In general, many goalkeepers retire at their late thirties, as their bodies are no longer capable of handling the physical demands required of the goalkeeping position in football. Many goalkeepers retire as soon as they are old enough to no longer be able to compete in the high-level competitive soccer leagues, and a few of them choose to join smaller clubs in lesser-known leagues once their performances have declined. As you can tell quite readily, goalkeepers are going to need to retire early in their football careers than is the typical retirement age for many other disciplines.
Career Trajectories for Soccer Players
Soccer players begin their careers at young ages, and they may become professionals at age 16, but the average football career lasts just 8-12 years, meaning that their careers are relatively brief in comparison to other jobs where retirement ages are typically between 60-70 years. Some goalkeepers are able to continue playing football until they are 42, whereas others cannot get beyond the age of 35. Some factors that contribute to this retirement age include a goalkeepers performances, fame, and injuries.
If we take a look at different positions, we notice the retirement age of goalkeepers is different from the one for strikers: For instance, a keeper will generally retire at the end of his 30s. Retirements in football players are typically caused by loss of speed, power, or stamina, making it harder to compete at the professional level. Retirement in football seems to come earlier, but, the game is a fast, physical one, and humans slowly lose the qualities necessary for competition against younger players. As they get older, players lose speed and other attributes of performance that are so crucial in todays football.
This is even more important past thirty years, because players need to work out and train even harder, in order to compensate the natural loss in strength and speed. When the player is in their 30s, they find it far harder to maintain their speed in games. Players that heavily rely on their speed are going to find it far more difficult after age thirty to compete with younger opponents. The soccer tempo in top-five leagues (England) is far faster and more demanding on the body, which is why players find it difficult to perform past the age of thirty.
Latin American Players Last Slightly Longer
Players in Latin America have played slightly longer, since those leagues are physically less demanding than European leagues, and there are a lot of leagues where players can offer their services. Often players will either continue their careers in a few lower European leagues, or move to Europe altogether. For instance, many star players such as David Beckham, Kaka, Wayne Rooney, etc., moved to MLS after having been stars in Europe for so many years. Most of those players went into coaching when they retired from professional play, working with younger kids and helping them develop skills before they started playing in the major leagues themselves.
A substantial portion of players stay, at least for some period, within the football industry following their retirement, either as coaches, scouts, or managers, either at the youth, reserve, or first-team levels. Retirement from playing professional soccer There were no notable differences in the main reasons players gave for retiring from competitive soccer (acute injury, 33 (19%); chronic injury, 46 (27%); re-training, 32 (19%); not renewing a contract, 30 (18%); others, 30 (18%)).
Personal details and current health The median age of respondents was 47.6 (13.2) (20-84), mean age of signing first professional contract was 18.2 (2.4) (16-27), mean age at retirement from playing professional soccer was 32.5 (5.2) (17-42) years. Table 1 Percentage of retired professional soccer players who received post-retirement help from organizations Player satisfaction/dissatisfaction with support services provided prior to retirement There were significant differences (p0.001) between players levels of satisfaction/dissatisfaction with medical, sports sciences, and educational/social services provided over their playing careers (Figure 2).
Why Soccer Players Retire Early
Retirement is a consequence of soccer being a physically demanding game more so than football, because of its hard tackling and opponent contact. While it is not uncommon, professional players usually retire in their mid-30s, as this is the time that their bodies start to deteriorate, and injuries become more common. While there are always exceptions, 30 is the age at which many players start winding down their careers. For many, retirement comes right before or just after reaching 30, as that is typically when players are at the peak of their powers and are looking ahead to the next chapter of their lives.
Players opt for retirement at about the age of 30 in order to devote time towards things like the development and advancement of their children who are going to school. Unfortunately, this leads to players spending more money, fatiguing their muscles, knees, joints, and thus players usually choose to finish their careers by the time they are in their 30s. Players usually sign their first professional contracts when they are seventeen years old, with an average of eight years in football careers.