German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer came out of retirement and at 40 has helped his nation into the knockout round at the World Cup.Robert Cianflone/Getty Images
The look on Manuel Neuer’s face at sound of the final whistle on Saturday told its own story.
It wasn’t relief – the legendary goalkeeper has accomplished too much in the game to show that emotion this early in a tournament – but after unretiring from international soccer one month ago to compete in his fifth World Cup, he had achieved at least one of the goals he had when he returned to the national team.
For the first time since he had helped Germany to win the World Cup in 2014 – when he was unmistakably in his ‘prime’ – the team has advanced out of the group stage at the tournament. And after starting both wins so far, the 40-year-old goalkeeper – the only player on the squad old enough to have been born in West Germany – has played his part.
That was evident Saturday at Toronto Stadium, when the four-time champions were struggling to contain the youthful verve of the Ivory Coast – the youngest team in the tournament, according to FIFA. Down 1-0 at halftime, they were forced to display deep reserves of resilience to turn the game around, led by the veteran poise and leadership of their goalkeeper, who is almost 16 months older than his head coach, Julian Nagelsmann.
Neuer – who established a new record for goalkeepers with his 21st match at a World Cup – hasn’t exactly had a heavy workload over the first two outings, making one save and conceding one goal each time. Compare that to Curacao’s Eloy Room – no spring chicken in footballing terms at 37 – who made a tournament-high 15 saves later on Saturday as the Blue Wave picked up their first World Cup point in a goalless draw with Ecuador.
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The fact that Neuer is even playing is a story in itself. Though he has already ruled out the possibility of staying on for the European Championship in two years’ time (“For me it is clear that this is my last tournament,” he’s said) the renaissance of the 40-and-over crowd is arguably the story of the first 10 days of this World Cup.
Prior to 2026, only seven players in their 40s had ever played at a World Cup, led by Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El Hadary, who was 45 and 161 days when he appeared at the 2018 tournament in Russia. In this tournament alone there are eight players on the rosters of the 48 teams who are into their fifth decade.
Although some of them – Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon, 43, and Mexico’s 40-year-old goalie Guillermo Ochoa – are yet to see any game action, the other six have played their part.
Arguably none has been more impactful than Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha, who repelled Spain’s offensive armada as his 67th-ranked team played the reigning European champions to a scoreless draw in its opener.
Joshua Kimmich, left, and Manuel Neuer of Germany celebrate the team's 2-1 victory in their Group E match against Ivory Coast at Toronto Stadium on Saturday.Robert Cianflone/Getty Images
He followed that up Sunday with a matchup against another 40-year-old goalkeeper as Cape Verde took on Uruguay. Having turned 40 just last week, Fernando Muslera was partly at fault for the tying goal as the two teams shared the spoils in a 2-2 draw.
Somewhat surprisingly, given that six of the first seven 40-year-olds to play at the tournament had been goalies, half of the 2026 crop are outfield players.
The most famous of them all is undoubtedly Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, who at 41 is competing in a record sixth World Cup as he attempts to fill the one remaining hole on his CV with the biggest prize of all.
His powers have long diminished from his own prime of the early to mid-2010s with Real Madrid, and there are many who feel he is currently the millstone around his national team’s neck, with or without his record – for a man – of 143 international goals.
Since Ronaldo last scored at a World Cup – a penalty against Ghana in the 2022 opener – Argentina captain Lionel Messi, the other half of soccer’s dynamic duo, has scored nine goals to tie the tournament record for goals and won the coveted trophy itself. The effervescent Messi rolled back every one of his 38 years in Argentina’s opener against Algeria to score his first World Cup hat trick.
The other two 40-year-olds at the tournament have had indifferent starts to their campaigns. Bosnia-Herzegovina captain Edin Dzeko didn’t get on the pitch against Canada in his country’s opener, and came off the bench in its 4-1 loss to Switzerland last Thursday.
Croatia captain Luka Modric meanwhile, conceded a penalty as the 2018 finalists crashed to a 4-2 loss to England last Wednesday, just his team’s third loss in its past 15 World Cup matches. Modric and the Croats now face a crucial match against Panama in Toronto on Tuesday.
Neuer and the Germans, meanwhile, are sitting pretty, with a round-of-32 match now locked in against a third-placed qualifier in Foxborough, Mass., on June 29. There is the small matter of the final Group E match against Ecuador next Thursday first.
While Germany would never look past a match, it is always tempting to look ahead. For some of the senior citizens of this World Cup, there almost certainly won’t be another opportunity.
“It is an absolute present to be here again,” Neuer said. “It would be very special to do it a second time but if I did not see the chance that we could do it, I would not be sitting here.”