Best Footballer To Retire At EVERY Age (20-45) 

I was forced to retire at 11 years old when it was discovered that I was shite at football.

I was at the game at White Hart Lane when Fabrice Muamba had his cardiac arrest. There were so many things that occured that day that helped save Muamba's life: (1) There was a specialist cardiologist there attending the game as a (spurs) fan, who managed to convince the stewards to let him onto the pitch. (2) This specialist then gave Muamba the on-field care needed to get him into a state that transporting him would be feasible. (3) The medics had initially wanted to transfer Muamba to the closest hospital to White Hart Lane, which is North Middx. Hosptial (1 mile away). The specialist who ran onto the field happened to know that the fascilities at NMH wouldn't be able to accomodate Muamba, and so demanded they take him to London Chest Hospital in Bethnal Green, 6 miles away (i.e., an extra 20 mins away, in London traffic/roads). This might extra journey time might seem crazy, but having the facilities available at LCH meant they could save Muamba's life. In short, what occured that day was terrible to witness, but a testament to the community of Football and its fans: A fan for the opposing team ran onto the pitch and saved the life of an opposing player. Tottenham fans will always be kind to Muamba, and it is such a shame such a good player had to retire so young.

Video idea : What on earth is going on at Man United

How about a video about the 36 year career of Kazuyoshi Miura, the world's oldest professional footballer who, at the age of 55, makes Sir Stanley Matthews look like a quitter 😂

Thanks Alfie for mentioning Adrian Doherty! He was from hometown of Strabane and is still very highly spoken of and fondly remembered, he was a fantastic talent from everyone's accounts. His father has written a book about him if anyone if interested, go check it out! Cheers Alfie, loving the content as always

For 24 I’d give an honourable mention to Michael Johnson. Incredible youth player at Man City, he was a regular in the first team by age 20; but injuries, mental health issues and other personal issues led to his inevitable retirement.

My man Lahm would have at least deserved to be mentioned at age 32

Day 19: A detailed look at the state of Crotone would be nice, going from Serie A in 20/21 with a 20 goal a season striker (Simy) to Serie C by 22/23. Two relegations in a row, something surely has to be wrong at that club.

Hey Alfie, could you do a vid on FC Dinamo Bucharest, my local team. As 18-time Romanian champions, 13-time Romanian cup winners, and 1st time champions league semi-finalists among Romanian clubs, Dinamo is Romania's 2nd most successful club side, and yet we are suffering an unprecedented plight. we have just suffered the first relegation of our 74-year history. Was wondering if you could take a look into what on earth is going on at Dinamo (with or without the WOEIGO title)

Marcelo Bravo, a former Argentine football midfielder who retired at the age of 21 after discovering that he suffered from a cardiovascular hypertrophy. Bravo's illness is similar to the one that cost Antonio Puerta's life in 2007. He played 50 games with Vélez Sarsfield.

Would love to hear some stories of lower league teams, Tranmere's giant killing League and FA cup runs around the turn of the century spring to mind

The best footballer to retire at age 25 was Raul Schiaffino. He could've been the best Uruguayan player of all time. Born on December 7th 1923 and having joined Peñarol in 1943 he began playing professionally at 20 years of age in 1944. He was everything his younger brother Juan Alberto (indeed the best Uruguayan olyer of all time) was but twice as good. In 1946 at age 23 he suffered a tear which didn't heal properly and that was practically the end of his carreer. He came back a couple of times after that but he effectively closed his carreer for good in 1949 months before his 26th birthday.

5:48 - The player you're looking for is Dener. The 22 year old Brazilian forward was considered one of the greatest wonderkids of the early 90's and was probably going to be part of the Brazilian National squad on the 1994 World Cup. He played for Portuguesa, Grêmio and Vasco da Gama in Brazil. Dener was a devilish dribbler, a provocative player, a typical Brazilian nº 10. He wouldn't score many goals, but would mesmerize everyone with his incredible driblling skills. In a 0-0 draw in a friendly between Vasco da Gama and Newells Old Boys in 1993, Maradona (playing for Newells at the time) said Dener was the sort of talent he hadn't seen for too long. Tragically, Dener died in a bizarre car crash in April 1994. He was traveling from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro when his friend fell asleep on the wheel. The car swerved and hit a tree. It wasn't a big crash, but Dener's seat was all the way back and his body was heavily inclined when the car crashed. This way the seatbelt that was supposed to be around his chest was at neck height instantly breaking his neck on impact. Dozens of fans surrounded the weird crash site: inside the car, Dener appeared to simply be asleep. In his face, not a worry in the world.

7 most naturally gifted footballers of our generation

You should make the best player from every nation again mate! That video was great and I'd love to see how much it changes!

I love these kind of videos and this was another excellent one

John Charles… severely underrated, so great to see him above such legends in this list. Wales at the 1958 World Cup probably deserves its own video in the lead up to Wales returning this year…

At 27 I believe Dani Carvalho would be more reasonable than Sebastian Diesel. Dani played for Sporting, West Ham, Ajax, Benfica and Atlético Madrid. This guy came from the same Alcochete Academy(Sporting) which created players such as Futre, Figo, Simão, Paim, Nani, Quaresma and of course Cristiano. And he was the biggest young promise in Portugal since Figo. When he arrived at West Ham at just 20 years old, he had the young Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand cleaning his boots. The three were basically the same age, the difference was that Dani was a starter! In the same year he ended up leaving West Ham to sign with Ajax, coached at the time by Van Gaal and played alongside legends such as Van der Sar, Boer, Kluivert, Blind, Laudrup, McCarthy, Chivu and Van der Vaart. Then with 24 years old and having played 72 games for the Dutch team, Dani returned to Portugal to play for Benfica where he stayed for just a few months before deciding to take a break from football. The following season, at the age of 25, he signed for Atlético de Madrid and became champion of the Second Spanish Division and stayed at the club until in 2003 when he was already tired of football and retired definitively at the age of 27. To contextualize Dani's life, he was a young man who was not only talented but also very handsome, he had the English newspapers telling the citizens to 'lock their daughters at home', or the West Ham coach himself saying "He's so good-looking that I don't know whether to coach him or fuck him." It is known that Dani liked clubs, alcohol and women much more than playing football.

absolutely love your videos.

Puskas was a genius .....his skill level was years ahead of his time .

I would put Tostão at the place of Mario de Castro, tostão was a brazilian striker who at 26, retired with almost 300 goals, was considered at the time the best player at probably the greatest side ever assembled (The 1970 wc brazilian national team) and is still the greatest legend of my childhood club, Cruzeiro He was doubted the little king since he was suposed to be the successor of pele, but a eye condition forced him to retire soon after 26 yo Its complicated since tostão and Mario were legends from rival clubs and I am not the most impartial, but I believe he would be the best call

Thanks for doing my suggestion

Your commitment is very admirable

Never ever expected to see an image of my home in The Hague in a RU-vid video, and especially not in HITC Sevens' ... but yeah, amazing content it still is!

really glad that u have included sebastian Deisler. Such a shame that he could never get the full potential out of himself due to his injuries. I can only imagine what could have been possible for him. Btw his name is pronounced like this: "Dye" like the thing u do when u want to color ur hair and then u put a "sler" afterwards. So it should sound like "Dyesler". I hope u guys get what i mean :D have nice day!

Amazing video as always, your research is without peer. Didn't know about Doherty and Muamba, was so sad hearing their tales, sometimes we forget about the otherside of football, at least, in the latter case, he was able to have a normal life. Day 8 asking for a video about Democracia Corinthiana.

Two video Ideas mostly because I want to hear your input on the two subjects 1. What is going on at Man Utd, given their perfomance nose dived since last season. 2. What is going on at Arsenal(I think they've made considerable progress, and I'd like to hear what you think) Cheers for the excellent content, my favouritr place for football documentaries.

Notable mention for Wesley Sneijder who retired age 35 and Van der Vaart also age 35.. quite funny since they played quite some games together. Wim Kieft dutch striker who won the golden boot in 82 retired age 34.

You included pictures of two Cameroonian legends almost twice in a row. I smiled. 😁

Love Nakata at 29! Was Brian Clough considered for the 29 range? He'd be happy to tell you of his 251 club goals in 271 appearances.

I feel bad for the younger players. Especially Doherty, retiring at 17! His career ended before it even begun! The fact he died later is even sadder.

Deisler is a tragic story due to his depressions. He was such a brillant player and was one of the last german "streetfootballers". I liked to see him play when i was a kid

Great vid. Doherty’s is such a sad story

Class video!! I agree with basically every ranking (except Ronaldo instead of Zidane).

Alfie i do not remember if you did one, but i think it's high time that you do a video about what the hell i happening at Manchester United. From winning the league in 2012/13 with a squad filled with mediocre players and after Fergie's retirement to winning the Europa League with Mourinho and finishing second to 20'th place and two losses in their first two games scoring only one goal and conceding 6. It is a really fascinating downfall for a club of their size.

I would love to get into the crypto market again but it's expensive now with the gas price alone, something could cost $18 but the gas could be over $400

Recommend the book "Forever Young" by Oliver Kay if you're interested in learning more about Adrian Doherty. Fantastic read and gives you an insight as to what an amazing person he was both on and off the pitch

Nice vid!

5:50 If you want a case like that in South America, the best shot may be Mirko Saric who couldn't get over a DCL injury and did the worst thing he could have done to himself. He was 21 years old, and drew comparisons to Redondo due to his playstyle. He is pretty well documented, in case you're interested.

That “Wright” before you started made me laugh 😂

Picture of my local club legend Chris Wondolowski and MLS all time leading goal scorer !!!

Met Sir Bobby Charlton at old Trafford when I was a kid, such a nice guy, was so friendly and even got a photo with the guy. Also met David Beckhams dad that day, another very friendly guy.

Thanks for including Adrian. Heart breaking story documented in a beautifully written book by Oliver Kay

A full Cantona video is needed Alfie!

For 21 Duncan edwards would’ve been a good call, literally got in the top 3 for the ballon d’or in his career. Although I guess you could argue it doesn’t count as a retirement as he died.

I love your work. Would you do something on the most successful players to have come from non-league football? I'm an Oldham supporter so obviously I'm into non league now!

If you include his titles with Leeds in 1991/92 and Montpellier in 1990/91, Cantona won six league titles in seven seasons with three different clubs, and the only one he didn't win was when he was suspended for half the season for that kung-fu kick. Utterly unreal.

17:13 that was a good pun on André Schürrle. Surely it deserves more recognition

I’d also consider Robin Friday who retired at 25. There’s a fabulous book about him called the greatest footballer you never saw and he probably merits a video of his own

I was so surprised when Nakata called it a day, had a brilliant loan a Bolton and I was excited to see if he would move permanently. He would not.

Video idea: players who are eligible to represent more than 2 nations and have represented 2 of those internationally, either at senior level or U-XX (e.g. Steven Caulker (England, Scotland, Sierra Leone) or Denzel Dumfries (Aruba, Netherlands, Suriname)) could be a good one.

Totti, Baggio and Stoichkov don't get honorable mentions?

Cantana definitely retired much too early at the age of 31 at the end of the 1996/97 season had he stayed on for a few seasons longer he would have ended up winning a lot more and Man Utd would likely have won the league in 1997/98 season the season immediately after he had left rather than Arsenal winning the double in fact it was most likely down to his suspension in January 1995 after that famous kung fu kick on that Crystal Palace fan that Man Utd ended up finishing runners up to Blackburn at the end of that season as opposed to being champions when you think of it with a fully fit Eric Cantona at the helm Man Utd could very easily could have ended up winning at least 6 successive league titles which would have been a remarkable achievement.

That fact that de Castro was the first player not from sau Paulo or Rio to be called up to the Brazil squad is crazy, was it some sort of tradition or just coincidence?

Can we have a video dedicated to Matteo Schindler please?? The player with the most integrity and balls of steel to match!

Liam Whelan for age 22. Top goal scorer for Manchester United in the 1956-57 season scoring 26 goals in the First Division and 33 in all competitions as United won their second successive league title and reached the semi-finals of the European Cup and FA Cup.

Day 49 - The Fall and Rise of FK Velež Mostar From a Club that has beaten Borussia Dortmund, Twente, Derby County and many others to a club that was forced from their own stadium, reduced to nothing during the Bosnian War, becoming a mediocre top-level team in the 00s to nearly being forced into folding in 2016 to its amazing comeback to European competitions in 2021 seeing the early exit of Greek giants AEK Athens in a sensational win in Athens!

Shoutout Daniel wells and North Melbourne at 5:16! Good form

Should’ve been Tostao at 27.

Ritchie Pitt made his debut for Sunderland at 17 and played well over 100 games for the club including most famously the 1973 FA Cup Final win v Leeds. He them got a crutiate knee ligament injury and retired at 22.

Matthias Sammer at 31 would have been another worthwhile contender.

A dishonorable mention goes to Ryan Giggs 💀 💀

Nice to see the Just Fontaine honorable mention.

At 24 now, it is probably Enock Mwepu, also due to a heart condition.

These videos are long enough without me immediately looking up each footballer after each segment

is alphie thinking of going solo?? there were quite a few plugs to his personal channel in this video and honestly im here for it

I remember watching the game with Muambas cardiac arrest, awful, glad he lived through that. As i recal he was very good and could have gone on dominating english football but it wasnt to be.

I think Richard Sadlier is a solid honourable mention at age 24. He was going to go on to big things that lad.

I'd argue that Fabian O'Neill retired age 30 due to alcoholism deserves at least an honorable mention. Most people who watched him play here in Uruguay maintain that he was probably the most skilled player we ever had. He has a famous match playing for Cagliari in 1999 where he did THREE tunnels to a young Gattuso.

Video idea: Best players to never score at a World Cup I.e. Zlatan, Figo, Nedved, Lampard, Ramos, Lewa, Alves,

Players on the cusp of reaching their respective league's 100 club would be an interesting video at the start of each new season. Last season would've been a great time to do a video like that with Mane, Salah, Sterling and Ronaldo all in that 90s-low 80s range in the premier league alone. This season, only Son looks likely in the prem, but I'm sure the Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A or Ligue 1 must have players nearing major milestones like that. Harry Kane isn't far from 200 if that's something to be considered.

As a Hungarian hearing Puskas name feels so good. Most fans don't know how good he was. Elite talent. Ria Ria Hungaria 💪

Diesler was great in one edition of pro evo, got the job done for me week in week out.

It’s 80 degrees. Probably hot for the UK, but it’s not considered to be that hot pretty much anywhere in the US. Even the northernmost states (not Alaska) get to the eighties in the summer. The UK is further north though, keep that in mind.

The last one was perfect 👌

Nakata was such a cheap and talented player to but in the "Master League" aka Career Mode in Winning Eleven 8 for the PS2, had no idea he retired so young!

Honourable mention to Abdelhak Nouri who was forced to retire at age 20 after a heart attack

As a ipswich fan Nydam wad a class talent for us enjoyed watching him

2 Of these retired at Bolton. mental!

Still remember where I was when I saw what happened to Fabrice Muamba, the only plus thing to come out of that was that at pretty much ever football ground these days there is a defibrillator It has to be a high percentage these days. Marc-Vivien Foé and Fabrice were the 1st 2 I remember seeing in football.

Hope this gets updated in about 15 years time when King Kazu finally hangs up his boots

I loved the Mário de Castro inclusion

Amazing video to say the least, all while using only a simple video concept to go by. I learned a lot about football. That man that died after celebrating in front of nazi higher ups deserves a whole video

I don't know if he would exactly qualify for this video, but perhaps Andrea Fortunato should've been included as the age 23 option (or earlier if decided based on last club appearance). He was a left back for Juventus during the early 90's, back in the golden serie a/football italia days, in the mould of Maldini or Torricelli, a regular starter for probably one of the top 5 teams in the world at the time, and pushing for a spot with the national team. An amazing player with few, if any, weaknesses and quality both on the ball and defending positionally. Tragically, he'd be diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia some time around '94, which he underwent treatment for multiple times with varying degrees of success, and died in 1995, aged 23, just as it seemed he would finally beat the disease for good, of pneumonia, having become more susceptible to disease following his ordeal. A really sad end to a promising career and the life of a wonderful and very young man.

One of my biggest accomplishments would be as a footballer would be to feature on your videos or someone else like reymar or DDOF and yup Im putting the work in so it becomes a reality. Also how do you reserch football and footballers?

No way your used a north melbourne pic absolute legend, up the roos

alfie. how about a "best player in every nation" but for leagues(all the leagues of the country). Your 'best player at every nation' was a good view count for you, this could be a fresh take on that idea

I wouldn't have even mentioned the Welsh thug - and I certainly won't mention it by name - but the way you dealt with the matter I think was better than that. A dishonourable mention, just perfect.

Cantona kicking that Crystal Palace git is the best moment in football ever!

Totti was a leader, legend and king 🤴 🙌 👏 🙏 ❤ 💙 🤴

Romario best one on one finisher with the keeper I've ever seen .

It's quite difficult to understand just how unbelievably good R9 really was. His abilities were so natural, and his skill was almost secondary to these incredible natural talents. His speed was amazing, but what was even greater than this speed was his acceleration. And all this with the ball. That's the difference between a great player and a legendary player. Honestly, he was just incredible to watch

miura still going strong 👌

6:34 I was at that game. It was a friendly between Notts County and Ipswich. So sad that injury ruined his career.

Another consideration at 25 would have been Tony Green who is considered Newcastle’s best ever player

I think one for this video should be GYORGY ORTH, for many considered the best Hungarian player of all time, at his time better than Puskas would ever be later on. He suffered an effectively career-ending injury at 25. He returned, played a couple of games, then became a player-coach for a few years, but never played as well as before.

Mario de Castro!! Legend!

Video Idea: players with the most potential

Video idea: the top 10 who both played a managed the same club.

What about Roger miller from Cameroon? Played and scored at WC USA 94 at age 42.