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Comparative Study
. 2025 Sep;33(9):3375-3388.
doi: 10.1002/ksa.12722. Epub 2025 Jun 12.

Establishing 'normal' career longevity in professional footballers allows comparison to that of players with injuries and surgery

Mary Jones  1   2 , Arman Motesharei  1   2 , Simon V Ball  1   2 , J Samuel Church  1   2 , James D F Calder  1   2   3 , Andy Williams  1   2
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Establishing 'normal' career longevity in professional footballers allows comparison to that of players with injuries and surgery

Mary Jones et al. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc. 2025 Sep.

Abstract

Purpose: To determine the 'normal' career longevity of male professional footballers and the factors that affect this in order to provide a baseline against which career longevity after injury can be measured. To demonstrate how these results can be used by comparing them with published career longevity rates after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR).

Methods: Match play data for the entire careers of 4117 male footballers playing in the top four English football leagues between 1992 and 2023 was utilised. Players were grouped into ability levels and their "still playing" rates, and career trajectory tracked according to age. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to determine differences by playing position and ability and Kaplan-Meier survival curves were generated. The findings were compared with published results after ACLR according to the comparable age and league level.

Results: Goalkeepers had a longer overall career length than outfield players (12.4 ± 4.9 vs. 11.6 ± 4.7 years, p = <0.01).Outfield players in the English Premier League (EPL) and those also playing internationally (EPL + I) play for longer overall and longer at their highest level (14.8 ± 3.3 and 7.5 ± 5.0 years) than lower league players (League 2: 6.2 ± 4.1 and 2.9 + 2.2 years). At 5 years, EPL + I and EPL outfield players have a 60% and 40% probability of continuing to play at their highest level respectively compared to less than 20% in The Championship and below. At 10 years this is 40% and 18% respectively compared to <2% in the lower leagues. 'Still playing' rates after ACLR are up to 12.9% lower than average for 30 year old footballers.

Conclusion: Career duration in footballers is affected by the position played and ability level. Career longevity and performance data is provided in a usable format for easy comparisons with studies reporting career longevity outcomes in professional footballers.

Level of evidence: Level III, retrospective cohort study.

Keywords: ACL; career longevity; elite sports; football (soccer).

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of statement.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Footballers Included and Ability Groups. EFL, English Football League.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Career trajectory and “still playing” rates by player age. (a) Outfield players. (b) Goalkeepers. C, Championship; EPL, English Premier League; EPL + I, English Premier League and International; L1, English Football League 1; L2, English Football League 2.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Kaplan–Meier career length survival curves comparing (a) goalkeepers with outfield players and (b) different outfield positions. Probable career length survival varied by ability groups in outfield players (Figure 3, 4) but less so in goalkeepers. Defenders had longer predicted survival (log rank test p = 0.01499) than midfielders but there was no significant difference in survival between other field positions.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Kaplan–Meier career length survival curves comparing different ability groups for (a) outfield players and (b) goalkeepers. C, Championship; EPL, English Premier League; EPL + I, English Premier League and International; L1, English Football League 1; L2, English Football League 2.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Kaplan–Meier survival curves comparing overall and highest level career lengths by ability group for (a) outfield players and (b) goalkeepers. C, Championship; EPL, English Premier League; EPL + I, English Premier League and International; L1, English Football League 1; L2, English Football League 2.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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