Soccer players Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski, tennis player Novak Djoković and alpine skier Lindsey Vonn are among the long-career athletes who stayed at the top for years. But time cannot be cheated, and athletes born in the 1980s are nearing the end of their careers.
As recently as the 20th century, athletes’ careers were short. After their 30th birthdays, players were considered veterans who were leaving the stage and making room for younger ones. That changed dramatically in the 21st century, and the best examples are the legends born in the mid-1980s. Even around age 40, they still perform at a high level.
Members of this generation of athletes took advantage of advances in medicine and used modern recovery methods that their predecessors did not have access to. Diet also played a major role. They were defined by professionalism, discipline and perfectionism.
Cristiano Ronaldo paid particular attention to recovery and taking care of his health. Every aspect of the Portuguese star’s life was subordinated to soccer. After matches, he devoted time to physical recovery. Among other things, he used cryotherapy and cold-water baths. He even hired a sleep coach, Nick Littlehales.
At 41, Ronaldo played in a World Cup for the sixth time. At the tournament in North America, he scored three goals and moved into second place among the oldest goal scorers in World Cup history. Cameroon’s Roger Milla leads that list; he scored a goal in 1994 at the age of 42 years and 39 days.
Ronaldo played 234 matches for the Portugal national team and scored 146 goals. He is the all-time leader in both categories. The forward last appeared for the national team on Sept. 24 in a Nations League match against Wales (1-0). A few days later, he left the national team’s training camp after he did not play in the match against Norway, even though coach Jorge Jesus had promised him he would come on.
On Nov. 5, just before the squad was announced for the November Nations League matches, he said he was ending his career with the national team.
“Dear Portuguese, the day has come when I hand over the No. 7 shirt of our national team. I never believed it belonged only to me. But for 23 years, I had the privilege and the responsibility to wear it, to defend its colors and to represent it in stadiums around the world,” Ronaldo said in a video he posted on his YouTube channel.
The Portuguese star is among the best players in history. He won the Champions League five times and the Ballon d’Or five times. He achieved many successes with Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus Turin. With the Portugal national team, he won a European championship and a European runner-up finish, and he won the Nations League twice.
With 140 goals, Ronaldo is the all-time top scorer in the Champions League. He has scored 985 goals in his career. His goal is to pass 1,000, which will likely happen this season.
Since 2023, the veteran forward has played for Al-Nassr Riyadh. Last season, he won the Saudi Arabian league title. His contract with the Saudi club expires in June 2027.
Messi also recently said goodbye to the national team. On Oct. 7, the Argentine played for his country for the last time, in a friendly against Benin (3-0). The 39-year-old scored 126 goals and recorded 69 assists in 208 appearances for the national team. He won the Copa América twice, and in 2022 he won the World Cup in Qatar.
Messi also performed superbly at this year’s World Cup in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Argentina reached the final, where it lost to Spain 1-0 after extra time. Messi scored eight goals at the tournament. With 21 goals, he is in second place on the World Cup’s all-time scoring list, which France’s Kylian Mbappé leads with 22.
Many fans consider Messi the best player in history. He has won the Ballon d’Or eight times. He spent most of his career at Barcelona, with which he won the Spanish league 10 times, seven Copa del Rey titles and seven Spanish Super Cups, three UEFA Super Cups, the Champions League four times and the Club World Cup three times.
In 2021, Messi moved to Paris Saint-Germain, with which he won the French league twice. Since 2023, he has played for Inter Miami. Last season, his team won Major League Soccer, while the Argentine, with 29 goals, was the league’s top scorer and MVP. His contract with Inter runs through the end of 2028.
Lewandowski, 38, is not talking about the end of his career for now. He achieved his greatest successes at Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich and Barcelona. At one point he was considered the best striker in the world. In 2020, he was close to winning the Ballon d’Or, but the France Football vote was canceled that year because the season was interrupted during the coronavirus pandemic. A year later, the Pole finished second behind Messi.
This summer, he moved to the Chicago Fire. He is no longer mentioned among the world’s top players, but he is still the best Polish striker. He holds the national team record, with 92 goals in 170 matches, and he can still add to that total. Head coach Jan Urban called him up for the November Nations League matches against Romania and Sweden.
Lewandowski’s contract with the Chicago Fire expires in 2028. It is possible that in two years the striker will play in the European Championship in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Luka Modrić, 41, still plays for the Croatia national team. He has scored 30 goals and recorded 32 assists in 206 appearances for his country. At the 2018 World Cup in Russia, he became a World Cup runner-up when Croatia lost the final to France 4-2. Four years later in Qatar, Croatia finished third.
The central midfielder achieved his greatest successes at Real Madrid, where he played from 2012 to 2025. During that time, he won four league titles, two Copas del Rey and five Spanish Super Cups. He won the Champions League six times, the Club World Cup five times and five UEFA Super Cup matches.
Modrić won the Ballon d’Or in 2018, ending the dominance of Ronaldo and Messi, who had won the France Football vote every year from 2008 to 2017. The Croatian has played for Milan since last season. He has already played more than 40 matches in Serie A. His contract runs through June 2027.
Djoković is among the greatest tennis players of all time. He has won 24 Grand Slam singles titles, the most in history. He won the Australian Open 10 times, Wimbledon seven times, the US Open four times and the French Open three times. In 2024 in Paris, he won an Olympic gold medal in singles.
Born in 1987, the tennis player was part of the “Big Three” with Switzerland’s Roger Federer and Spain’s Rafael Nadal, both of whom have already retired. Despite his advanced age, he keeps pace with younger players such as Italy’s Jannik Sinner, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Germany’s Alexander Zverev.
The Serb plans to continue his career until at least 2028. He wants to compete at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. He intends to keep playing as long as he feels passion and a hunger to compete.
A legend of alpine skiing is Lindsey Vonn, 42, an Olympic, world championship medalist and four-time Crystal Globe winner. The American retired in 2018 but resumed her career after six years.
Last season, Vonn reached the podium at World Cup events seven times and won twice. On Feb. 8 at the Olympic Games in Italy, she crashed during a downhill run and broke her tibia. She underwent surgery at a hospital in Treviso. Even so, she did not give up and did not announce a definitive end to her career.
Athletes in their 40s are leaving the stage, but their achievements are impressive. They backed their exceptional talent with hard and smart work, setting an example for younger athletes.
Maciej Gach (PAP)
