From Fukushima to Cali, Lima to the Kazakh steppe, football’s veteran generation is still moving through the game rather than away from it. A group of familiar names, each aged 38 or older, remain registered with clubs across several continents, carrying careers that have crossed World Cups, continental finals and some of the sport’s most recognisable cities.
At the far end of that scale is Kazuyoshi Miura. The Japanese forward, widely known as Kazu, is 59 and continues with Fukushima United, making him the oldest active professional footballer in the world. His career has long connected Japan with wider football routes: he played in Brazil during the 1980s and 1990s for clubs including Santos, Palmeiras and Coritiba. He arrived in Brazil before Dunga’s 1994 World Cup triumph, although the pair only later shared a dressing room in Japan. For the national side, Miura won the 1992 Asian Cup and the Afro-Asian Cup of Nations a year later.
Portugal’s Nani is still playing at 39, now with Kazakhstan’s Aktobe. He made his senior international debut in 2006 and shared Portugal squads with Cristiano Ronaldo at European Championships and World Cups. Their club connection came at Manchester United between 2007 and 2009, where they collected the Premier League, Champions League and Club World Cup together.
In Colombia, Radamel Falcao García remains active at 40 with Millonarios after returning home following nearly two decades abroad. The striker’s European route included Atlético Madrid, Monaco and Manchester United, while his 36 international goals made him Colombia’s record scorer. He appeared at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
South American returns and long careers
Paolo Guerrero, 42, has gone back to where his professional story began, leading the line for Alianza Lima in Peru. The centre-forward became especially familiar to Brazilian supporters through spells with Flamengo, Corinthians, Internacional and Avaí. Across 26 years as a professional, he has won honours including the Club World Cup, Recopa, Copa Sudamericana, Bundesliga and Brazilian league title. His international record also includes six Copa América tournaments — 2007, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2024 — as well as the 2018 World Cup.
Paraguay’s Roque Santa Cruz is still competing at 45 for Nacional in his homeland. His long list of major honours features the Intercontinental Cup, Champions League and Bundesliga, earned during a career that also took him to Bayern Munich and Manchester City. He represented Paraguay at three World Cups, in 2002, 2006 and 2010.
Another familiar figure from Brazilian football, Argentina’s Hernán Barcos, is 42 and playing for Sporting Cristal in Peru. He has scored three times in 13 matches during 2026. Barcos previously represented Palmeiras, Grêmio and Cruzeiro, winning the Copa do Brasil with Palmeiras in 2012 and again with Cruzeiro in 2018.
Brazilian goalkeeper Vanderlei, also 42, has joined Água Santa, a Série D side. During six years at Coritiba, from 2007 until 2013, he won six state championships and two Série B titles. Later, at Santos, he added two state crowns and was named Brasileirão player of the year in 2017.
Enzo Pérez reached 40 while continuing at Deportivo Maipú, the club from his home city in Argentina. The midfielder has scored six Copa Libertadores goals and has won South America’s leading club competition twice: first with Estudiantes in 2009 and then River Plate in 2018. He started Argentina’s 2014 World Cup final in Brazil, a 1-0 defeat to Germany, and was again a starter at the 2018 tournament, where Argentina lost to eventual champions France in the round of 16.
Carlos Bacca, 40, is now at Deportivo Cali after a career that also brought him to Milan from 2015 to 2017. He played at the 2014 and 2018 World Cups for Colombia, for whom he scored 16 goals in 52 appearances, placing him seventh on the country’s all-time scoring list. His finest European nights came with Sevilla, where he won two Europa Leagues. In the 2013 final against Benfica, he scored in the shootout as Sevilla prevailed 4-2; a year later, he supplied two goals and an assist in the 3-2 final victory over Ukraine’s Dnipro.
Javier Hernández, better known as Chicharito, has taken a newer route in the United States. Mexico’s all-time leading scorer with 52 goals, he joined Atlético Dallas in July as the inaugural signing for the newly formed USL Championship club. The 38-year-old had previously spent 2020 to 2023 with LA Galaxy and returned to Chivas Guadalajara from the 2023/24 campaign through 2025/26.
Hernández played at three straight World Cups between 2010 and 2018 and scored in each of them. His European career included Manchester United, where he won the Premier League twice, Real Madrid and a final European season at Sevilla in 2019, when he won the Europa League. From Miura’s remarkable sixth decade to Hernández beginning a chapter with a new American club, the veterans remain spread across football’s map rather than confined to its memory.
