Today is the 39th birthday of one of the greatest footballers to ever play the game, Cristiano Ronaldo. The longevity of Ronaldo is incredible, still having more goal contributions than games played in the Saudi Pro League this season. This longevity is something rarely seen in the world of football, with less than a dozen players per generation maintaining this kind of sticking around.
We’ve seen countless footballing legends play and retire before the age of 39, and some even in their early 30s. However, for some of these footballers, how long would their careers last if they played as long as the Portuguese ace did? Well, let’s see.
Zinedine Zidane was the person who inspired me to do this post, who retired in 2006 at age 34, still as one of the world’s best. If he retired at age 39, He’d be playing until 2011, just before Leo Messi’s run of 91 goals in the 2012 calendar year, and 2 years after Real Madrid’s acquisitions of Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema. He may have even played at the 2010 World Cup with France.
If Wayne Rooney retired at 39, he’d still be playing today. After retiring from playing in 2021 as player-manager of Derby County at 35, and semi-retiring to the MLS after leaving Everton at 32, it was a rapid and earlier-than-expected decline for one of football’s biggest wonderkids.
If Sergio Aguero hadn’t had arrhythmia and retired in 2021 at the age of 33, he’d still be playing for 4 more years, retiring in 2028, likely going back to Independiente at some point. If he had stayed at Barcelona, would they have signed Aubameyang or Lewandowski with the Argentine still on the team? It was an event of understated importance to Barcelona’s future.
What about Philipp Lahm? The former Bayern captain shockingly retired in 2017 at age 33, but what if he stuck around until age 39? Lahm would’ve stayed in the Bayern squad until 2023, perhaps making it so that Bayern don’t have a need to sign Benjamin Pavard in 2018.
Next, Xabi Alonso. If the Madrid legend hadn’t retired at Bayern at the age of 35 in 2017, he would’ve stuck around until 2021, and who knows what would’ve happened then? Would he be Leverkusen manager and favorite to replace Jurgen Klopp this summer at Liverpool? Probably not.
Let’s look at what would’ve happened if Gary Neville stuck around until 39. Instead of a 2011 retirement, he would’ve stayed until 2015, 2 years after Sir Alex’s departure.
Let’s take a little gander at the other end of the spectrum. Gianluigi Buffon. Retiring as one of the oldest pro footballers in the world, if he retired at 39 he’d only stick around until 2017, not giving him a chance to get his famous red card against Real Madrid in 2018, or to go go to PSG that summer, return to Juventus and keep a clean sheet at the Camp Nou, and make his return to Parma in 2021. So, obviously, Cristiano may have a while yet.
Of the footballers who have stuck around until the age of 39, who have been the best ones? There have been a few footballers who have been playing at a high level, so let’s look through them.
We start with Javier Zanetti. In his 18th and penultimate season at Inter, he was 39 years old. However, he still played 48 matches, with 45 starts and 42 full 90s. He was also playing nearly everywhere for Inter, playing at Right Back, Left Back, Defensive Midfield, Right Midfield, Center Midfield, and Left Midfield at some point. This seems like a lot for a 39-year old, right? Well, it was. Near the end of the season, in a match against Palermo, Zanetti tore his achilles tendon, and didn’t return for 6 months, which was still considered a very quick recovery, especially for a now 40-year old Zanetti.
Next up is a man who needs no introduction. Zlatan. He turned 39 during the 2020/21 season. During his first 6 Serie A games for AC Milan that year, he scored 10 times, before getting two injuries back-to-back, and starting to lose his touch. He ended up playing 27 times that season, scoring 17 times and getting 3 assists, which is not bad at all for a 39-year old. However, he ended up getting 4 injuries, Coronavirus, and a red card for saying something misinterpreted by the referee.
Finally we have Edwin van der Sar. Man Utd’s goalkeeper legend played exactly 30 times in the season he turned 39. He missed significant time due to personal issues and a broken finger that season. He got 14 clean sheets in that time, which is honestly very impressive. He would end his career the next year in 2011 at the age of 40.
So now, seeing what everyone else is doing at 39, you can now appreciate the true longevity of Cristiano Ronaldo. He will go down in history as one of the best ever, and his longevity will boost his argument loads. I’m Jim James, until next time.