For a while, Billy Sharp\u2019s pinned post on X was his riposte to the opposition supporter who sent him an AI-generated image of the striker in his Doncaster Rovers kit, hobbling about the pitch on a walking frame.<\/p>\n
His most recent post is a clip from the press conference that fell in the week of his latest birthday, at which his manager said, \u201cWelcome to my club \u2014 the forties.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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\ud83d\ude18 https:\/\/t.co\/85KxjuKFXB<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u2014 billy sharp (@billysharp10) September 7, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Such is life when you\u2019re still playing professional football at the age of 40: still scoring, still training every day, still relishing the needle with rival fans, still living with so much energy that, Sharp tells The Athletic<\/em>, he observed to his wife that \u201clately, I\u2019ve been having the energy to go to play padel<\/a> as a cool-down\u201d.<\/p>\n In November last year, Sharp passed 700 appearances in the English Football League (EFL), the bulk of them coming in the Championship and League One, the second and third tiers of English football. Another measure of the length of Sharp\u2019s career is that he features in the iconic Neil Warnock documentary, which charts the then-Sheffield United manager\u2019s 2004-05 season and has recently found a new generation of viewers via TikTok. The fashion alone \u2014 baggy tracksuits, blond highlights \u2014 underscores the passage of more than two decades.<\/p>\n On Saturday, Brighton & Hove Albion\u2019s James Milner, aged 40, surpassed Gareth Barry\u2019s record for most Premier League appearances<\/a>. This was two weeks after 41-year-old Lindsey Vonn, the American skier, crashed out of the Winter Olympics<\/a> at which she was competing with a ruptured left anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee and after having replacement surgery on the other one, sparking widespread discussion about what it all means when someone with so little to prove \u2014 she had already retired from the sport once, in 2019 \u2014 insists on doing so anyway.<\/p>\n Vonn is an extreme example even by the standards of elite sportspeople. Her mental-health coach suggests her endeavour was in service of the extraordinary strength of the human spirit from a three-time Olympic champion athlete who does not experience pain the way most do. The most famous example, Cristiano Ronaldo, indicated in December that he would not retire until he scored his 1,000th career goal<\/a>. He is contracted to Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia beyond his 42nd birthday but said in November that the 2026 World Cup will be his last international tournament<\/a>.<\/p>\n Still, there are broader themes worth interrogating, beyond the perfect confluence of biological factors that no doubt underpin 20-year athletic careers. Where some are relieved to reach the end of their playing days, how do others find the energy to go back to the well, season after season?<\/p>\n \u201cWhile my body feels good, my head\u2019s always going to tell me I want to play football and my heart\u2019s always going to tell me that I\u2019ll never want to stop,\u201d Sharp says.<\/p>\n He thinks of his former Sheffield United team-mate Chris Basham, who retired in August 2024 at age 36<\/a>, having undergone five operations to repair the ankle he shattered in a Premier League game almost a full year earlier.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an injury affecting his lifestyle. He\u2019s still not right,\u201d Sharp says. \u201cTo be able to still play football on the weekend, that\u2019s in the back of my mind. It\u2019s a privilege to play football. I\u2019ve had team-mates who have had the opportunity taken away from them. Sometimes, that\u2019s the thing that says to me, \u2018Don\u2019t stop yet because you\u2019re lucky to still play and you\u2019re still capable of playing at a good level\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n The perspectives of women footballers are often broader still, given the sport\u2019s historic and current frailties. Fighting for the women\u2019s game\u2019s growth, though, brings additional emotional labour, and there is a psychological toll from always demanding more from indifferent stakeholders. \u201cFor people in my generation, who have seen so much growth and so much evolution, what is ingrained in us deeply is to make the game a better place,\u201d says 39-year-old Jess Fishlock, Wales\u2019 most-capped player with more than 165 appearances.<\/p>\n Fishlock was part of a cohort whose hopes of reaching the 2005 European Championship, to be held in England, were dashed when the Football Association of Wales declined to fund the female squad through its qualifiers<\/a>, and can remember the days of combining a burgeoning playing career at Cardiff City with work for a telecoms company: \u201cYou basically knew that what you were doing was just for something so much bigger. That, mixed with how I love the game, is truly what ended up keeping you going. Now, it\u2019s probably less about the evolution of the game because you\u2019d like to think the younger generation understands that \u2014 we\u2019re tired. But I still have the love of it to carry on, which is truly a gift.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Fishlock, who retired from international football in November but is still playing for Seattle Reign of the NWSL<\/a>, underlines the particular kind of resilience needed in women\u2019s football to keep waging off-field battles for improved pay, treatment and conditions: \u201cFacilities, medical, travel, things like that \u2014 it just took so long to get that stuff right that it felt like you were doing this all and people were expecting elite level while the working conditions were subpar. That was always like, \u2018What\u2019s the point of this?\u2019.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Over the past few years, Fishlock has been consciously trying to \u201cpass that baton on\u201d to a younger generation of players for both club and country, acting as \u201cmore of a mentor and helping people understand how to go into these meetings and how to have these conversations. Eventually, when the entirety of my generation goes, you have to be able to pass that skill set on\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n This was also a focus for the recently retired New Zealand and Angel City defender Ali Riley, 38, who found the final years of her career derailed by labral tears to the cartilage in both hip joints and nerve compression injuries caused in part by the injections she had taken to prolong her career. <\/span><\/p>\n With her on-field influence dwindling, Riley sought to \u201cencourage players to understand their resources and the rights they have and who they can go to. Without dwelling on the past, it\u2019s like the players who experienced what it was like before can still use our really tough times \u2014 not to tell this new generation how good they have it, but to make sure they understand how empowered they are\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n By the end of Riley\u2019s career, some of her team-mates were 21 years younger than her. She was conscious of \u201ccreating an environment that can empower girls who are so different than you were at their age\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n More remarkable than Riley\u2019s five World Cup campaigns is what she has lived through during her years playing in America with three different clubs: teams folding, the collapse of the Women\u2019s Professional Soccer league that preceded the NWSL, and the NWSL abuse crisis<\/a>. \u201cThe simple way to say it is, like, we\u2019re crazy,\u201d she says. \u201cElite athletes at this level, especially women, are so resilient. We\u2019re unwilling to let these awful things stop us.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere are people who understand that women\u2019s sport is not a charity, that it is a good investment, that this is a smart thing to do and the right thing to do. We choose to see those people and those instances of light. Maybe the most protective and evolutionarily sound thing to do would be, like, \u2018I should not keep going\u2019. I think about all the sleepless nights and the stress and what I\u2019ve done to my body \u2014 I\u2019m still recovering from all of that, and it was so worth it to be part of this game and growing it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Riley pushed that body to its limits over her final few seasons. With the acceptance that she would never play again came the hope of being able to live without pain. She grieved her diminishing control over her body \u2014 \u201cit is the death of the athlete you were, of the opportunities you had, of an entire identity\u201d \u2014 and questioned her purpose \u2014 \u201cyou need a lot of people reminding you that you still have value, because you question it every day\u201d \u2014 but ultimately the decision made itself.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI talked to so many of my colleagues who have retired and many wish they stopped earlier because they are not able to have an active life without pain,\u201d Riley says. \u201cWhether I could play one season more, two seasons more \u2014 what life do I want to live in the next 30, hopefully 50 years? How can I do what I need to do to be able to jog, to bend down, to sleep at night?<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhat I was going through to get out on the field every single day was not the life I wanted to live. I wasn\u2019t able to really be my full self. I deserve to have a life where I can feel joy, and I can be a good wife and a good daughter and a good friend. All of my energy was being put into being able to warm up and to train with my team.\u201d<\/p>\n Riley also found it hard to justify pushing through the pain barrier for limited returns while her desire to start a family was growing: she froze her eggs in 2020. \u201cIf I would want to try to push my body further, what am I then missing out on for continuing to do something that is hurting me every day?\u201d she reflects.<\/p>\n Fishlock says she is still posting personal bests in fitness tests. In 2025, she became the oldest goalscorer in the history of the Women\u2019s Euros finals<\/a>. \u201cFor some reason, when you hit 30, everyone seems to think you can\u2019t walk anymore,\u201d Fishlock says. Other people\u2019s reactions made her more conscious of her age than she ever was.<\/p>\n \u201cIf an older player has a bad game, it\u2019s because they\u2019re old and past it \u2014 it\u2019s a myth, a naive way of thinking and perhaps a lazy way of thinking. I will be out here, y\u2019know, dying on that hill and debunking that myth for the rest of my days.\u201d<\/p>\n Sharp is not even the oldest player in the three divisions and 72 clubs of the EFL.<\/p>\n Goalkeeper Joe Murphy, 44, is into his third year as a coach-player at Tranmere Rovers, but an injury to their first-choice at his position has seen him play 21 times in League Two this season.<\/p>\n \u201cI probably feel better than I did when I was a younger goalkeeper, physically and mentally,\u201d Murphy says. \u201cThe more experienced you get\u2026 not the easier it is, but I could turn up and play a game at the drop of a hat. I can mentally get into that zone very easily. Then you\u2019re more relaxed. My decision-making is better, which means maybe my reaction time is better. When you\u2019re a young, inexperienced goalie, you probably need more preparation.\u201d<\/p>\n Underpinning it all is self-confidence. \u201cI just believe I can play at a high level,\u201d Murphy explains. \u201cI believe I can play for my country still (the most recent of his two appearances for the Republic of Ireland came in 2010). I believe I can play in the Premier League still (Murphy\u2019s only two games at that level were for West Bromwich Albion in 2002). It\u2019s not going to happen, but that\u2019s the belief I have, and that\u2019s the drive I have. If I felt I couldn\u2019t contribute and my standards weren\u2019t as high as the other players around me, I would gladly walk away.\u201d<\/p>\n Sharp, for his part, still thinks he could play today for Sheffield United, where he made close to 300 appearances across English football\u2019s top three divisions during a third spell at his boyhood club between 2015 and 2023.<\/p>\n It is another example of that belief, but Sharp\u2019s story highlights how any long career involves overcoming anguish.<\/p>\n His plan had been to retire on his own terms at Sheffield United and, after leaving at the end of the 2022-23 season, he \u201chad a think then about retiring because I didn\u2019t think I could put another shirt on. The emotional side of things was the biggest thing. I was hurt badly.\u201d<\/p>\n But life in MLS with LA Galaxy rekindled his passion and was \u201cwhere the emotion side of things went away. I was watching the Premier League from afar, getting up at stupid o\u2019clock to watch Sheffield United. It was a tough time, but it wasn\u2019t in my face because I was in America playing. It\u2019s probably the reason I\u2019m still playing now.\u201d He returned to England with Hull City in December 2023, and has been with Doncaster (it\u2019s his third spell with them too) since the following summer.<\/p>\n Sharp is still a way off Peter Clarke\u2019s haul of more than 1,000 career appearances \u2014 with game 1,000 notched up for Prescot Cables in the Northern Premier League Premier Division, the seventh tier of the English game, last October. Having played in the top four divisions from 1998 to 2023 for 11 different clubs after coming through the youth ranks at Everton, defender Clarke now works full-time but still trains two evenings a week.<\/p>\n The original plan had been for him to finish playing professionally at 41.<\/p>\n \u201cMy wife said to me, \u2018Do you think it\u2019s a good idea to go cold turkey?\u2019. And left me with that thought. She was right,\u201d Clarke says. \u201cFootball was my drug of choice. I\u2019ll go as far as to say that when I was a kid, I was addicted. My greatest love is my family, my first love is football. That\u2019s probably what keeps me going back.\u201d<\/p>\n Clarke reckons that he could \u201cprobably remember something\u201d about each of those 1,000 games if he had a list in front of him, broken down into seasons. It seems remarkable he hasn\u2019t yet got bored and has been able to go to the well more than 1,000 times.<\/p>\n \u201cMotivation comes and goes, but discipline outlasts motivation,\u201d he says. \u201cEven when you don\u2019t want to do the running session or get yourself in the gym, through the course of a career, it becomes a mindset. The motivation might ebb and flow, but if you can recall the things that serve you well, the discipline and doing those things help keep you out on the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n Much of the conversation around retirement focuses on the difficulty footballers face filling the void the game leaves when it\u2019s gone \u2014 the laughter of a packed dressing room swapped for lonely rounds of golf and trying to recapture football\u2019s unique highs. Murphy, logistically ready for retirement thanks to his coaching business, has a more comforting perspective.<\/p>\n \u201cI am at peace, because I know I\u2019ve been very lucky,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve probably had three careers, really. Some (players) start at 15 and end at 20, 21, 22.\u201d<\/p>\n Clarke, meanwhile, kept his celebrations after that 1,000th game typically low-key.<\/p>\n \u201cI worked during the day, came home, got changed and then out to the game. Back home, ice bath and off to bed.\u201d<\/p>\n This article originally appeared in The Athletic<\/a>.<\/p>\n Los Angeles Galaxy, Sheffield United, Wales, Premier League, Championship, Women’s Soccer, Olympics, League One, League Two, National League<\/p>\n 2026 The Athletic Media Company<\/p>\n