(/BBCNews) It’s often said that footballers are at their peak between the ages of 27 and 29 and World Cup stats provide a startling confirmation.
Historically, the perfect age to be a player in the World Cup is 27.5.
That’s the average age of the winning teams in the 19 World Cup finals from 1930 to 2010, from the youngest – Argentina in 1978 (25.7) – to the oldest – Brazil in 1962 (30.7).
World Cup winning teams |
||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Winners | Average age |
| 1962 | Brazil | 30.7 |
| 2006 | Italy | 29.6 |
| 1934 | Italy | 29 |
| 1954 | West Germany | 28.5 |
| 1994 | Brazil | 28.5 |
| 1998 | France | 28.3 |
| 1982 | Italy | 27.9 |
| 1990 | West Germany | 27.8 |
| 2010 | Spain | 27.3 |
| 1974 | West Germany | 27.1 |
| 1930 | Uruguay | 27 |
| 1970 | Brazil | 26.9 |
| 1966 | England | 26.7 |
| 1986 | Argentina | 26.7 |
| 2002 | Brazil | 26.6 |
| 1958 | Brazil | 26.3 |
| 1938 | Italy | 26.2 |
| 1950 | Uruguay | 25.9 |
| 1978 | Argentina | 25.7 |
| Average | 27.5 | |
Interestingly, this figure, 27.5, also jumps out of the stats from the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. It’s the mean age of the 32 teams that played in the first group matches.
The median age is also very close – if you list all 32 teams in order of age from the youngest (Nigeria, 24.4) to the oldest (USA, 29.5), the two teams in the middle of the table (England and Australia) both have an average age of 27.4.
First group match starting 11 (2014) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Average age | Team | Average age |
| USA | 29.5 | England | 27.4 |
| Iran | 29.5 | Uruguay | 27.2 |
| Greece | 29.3 | Chile | 27.2 |
| Portugal | 29.2 | Holland | 27.1 |
| Ivory Coast | 29.1 | Japan | 27.1 |
| Honduras | 29 | Costa Rica | 26.9 |
| Russia | 28.8 | Bosnia | 26.7 |
| Argentina | 28.7 | Switzerland | 26.6 |
| Spain | 28.7 | Ecuador | 26.5 |
| Mexico | 28.3 | France | 26.5 |
| Italy | 28.2 | Germany | 26.4 |
| Colombia | 28 | Algeria | 26.1 |
| Croatia | 28 | Belgium | 25.8 |
| Brazil | 27.8 | Korea | 25.7 |
| Cameroon | 27.6 | Ghana | 25.2 |
| Australia | 27.4 | Nigeria | 24.4 |
In all cases we have taken the starting line-up of 11 players, ignoring substitutions.
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Semi-final starting 11 (2014) |
|
|---|---|
| Team | Average age |
| Brazil | 28.3 |
| Germany | 27.7 |
| Holland | 27.5 |
| Argentina | 28.4 |
| Average | 28 |
It’s also worth mentioning that Brazil’s 1958 World Cup winning team was one of the youngest (26.3) but their 1962 winning team was the oldest by a long way (30.7). The huge difference in average age is explained by the fact that eight of the team that started in the 1958 final also started in 1962 – which proves that the age of a side is irrelevant if it’s simply incredibly talented.
AC 