Premier League 2026/27: seven in 100 starting places go to players 33+
Of the 11 who start a match, seven in 100 in the Premier League, England's top division, are 33 or older; in Brazil, 18. Matches to 28 October 2026.
In the Premier League, players 33 or older hold seven in 100 starting places so far in 2026/27; in the 2026 Brasileirão, 18.
The count comes from Soccer Addicted's match archive, with matches to 28 October 2026. It adds up 18,605 starting places, the spots of players who start a match: the 2026 Brasileirão's, not over yet (324 of 380 matches), and the start of 2026/27 (August to May in Europe) in the other six. They are the top divisions of seven countries: Brazil's Brasileirão, England's Premier League, Spain's LaLiga, Italy's Serie A, Germany's Bundesliga, France's Ligue 1 and Japan's J1 League.
The Brasileirão has the biggest share of the seven among players 33 or older: 18 in every 100, against ten in every 100 in 2015. In Europe it runs from five in every 100 (Serie A) to 11 (LaLiga); the J1 has 12. In a 2026 Brasileirão match, on average four of the 22 players who start (11 per team) are 33 or older; in 2015, two. Among players 21 or younger, Ligue 1 has the biggest share, 18 in every 100; the J1 League, the smallest, three; the Brasileirão, nine.
How does the count measure a player's age?
Age is counted on match day, from the supplier's birth date. Seven places with no birth date are left out: five in the 2026 Brasileirão, two in Ligue 1 2026/27. The cut-offs, 33 or older and 21 or younger, are this count's, not a league's.
Picture a squad of half 20-year-olds, half 36-year-olds. Its average age, counting everyone once, is 28. If only the 36-year-olds start, all places go to players 33 or older.
Which league gives the most starting places to players 33 or older?
The 2026 Brasileirão leads, with 18 in every 100 places (1,310 of 7,123). Its gap to the other six is too big to be chance, beyond the margin of error: how far a figure moves by chance when teams and players enter the count.
| League | Matches per team | Places with known age | Aged 33 or older (per 100) | Aged 21 or younger (per 100) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brasileirão 2026 | 31 to 33 | 7,123 | 18.4 | 8.6 |
| J1 League 2026/27 | 12 | 2,640 | 12.3 | 3.3 |
| LaLiga 2026/27 | 9 to 10 | 2,178 | 11.2 | 10.5 |
| Ligue 1 2026/27 | 8 | 1,582 | 8.8 | 17.8 |
| Premier League 2026/27 | 8 | 1,760 | 6.9 | 10.9 |
| Bundesliga 2026/27 | 7 | 1,386 | 6.7 | 14.7 |
| Serie A 2026/27 | 8 to 9 | 1,936 | 5.4 | 11.7 |
The Brasileirão (33 or older) has almost triple the Premier League's share, 18 against seven. The J1 League sits above the Premier League, the Bundesliga and Serie A. LaLiga is above Serie A; other European gaps, the Premier League's included, are too small to rank.
Where do players 21 or younger get the most starting places?
In 2026/27, of the seven leagues, Ligue 1 leads among players 21 or younger: 18 in every 100 places. The J1 League has the lowest, three, set apart by the margin. The Bundesliga (15) and Serie A (12) are close enough to tie Ligue 1.
The Bundesliga is above the Brasileirão and the J1 League, beyond the margin; the Brasileirão, LaLiga, the Premier League and Serie A, from nine to 12, cannot be ranked.
Do the European figures already cover a full season?
Not yet: they come from the first seven to ten matches per team of the 2026/27 season, running August to May, and can change until May. The J1 League's 2026/27 season began on 7 August 2026. The Brasileirão already covers 324 of 380 matches.
Has the Brasileirão always given this many places to players 33 or older?
No: among players 33 or older the share almost doubled, from ten to 18 in every 100 places, 2015 to 2026.
For players 21 or younger the share fell from 16 to nine; both changes exceed the margin.
The archive lacks the 2025 Brasileirão, Europe's 2024/25 and 2025/26, Ligue 1's 2025/26. Europe is compared with 2017/18, August 2017 to May 2018.
It is the first season for which the archive has almost every starter's birth date in the five leagues.
What has changed since the 2017/18 season in the other leagues?
Beyond the Brasileirão, three changes exceed what chance explains: Serie A fell and LaLiga rose (33 or older); the J1 League fell (21 or younger).
The clearest is Serie A's, from 12 (2017/18) to five (2026/27) in every 100 places.
| League | Aged 33 or older: 2017/18 | Aged 33 or older: 2026/27 | Beyond the margin? | Aged 21 or younger: 2017/18 | Aged 21 or younger: 2026/27 | Beyond the margin? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brasileirão (2017 and 2026) | 12.1 | 18.4 | yes, rose | 11.5 | 8.6 | no |
| Serie A (2017/18 and 2026/27) | 12.1 | 5.4 | yes, fell | 8.5 | 11.7 | no |
| LaLiga (2017/18 and 2026/27) | 7.0 | 11.2 | yes, rose, narrowly | 8.9 | 10.5 | no |
| J1 League (2017 and 2026/27) | 9.2 | 12.3 | no | 6.7 | 3.3 | yes, fell |
| Premier League (2017/18 and 2026/27) | 5.4 | 6.9 | no | 7.4 | 10.9 | no |
| Bundesliga (2017/18 and 2026/27) | 3.6 | 6.7 | no | 16.7 | 14.7 | no |
| Ligue 1 (2017/18 and 2026/27) | 7.8 | 8.8 | no | 16.3 | 17.8 | no |
LaLiga rose from seven to 11, narrowly. In Japan, the share of players 21 or younger fell from seven to three. Apart from those three and the Brasileirão's rise, every comparison stays inside the margin. In the Brasileirão, the fall among players 21 or younger exceeds the margin against 2015 but not against 2017, the base of this table. Against the last full season, no change in the other six leagues exceeds the margin, so the count refers to change since the 2017/18 season, not to recent change.
Who is among those who started the most matches, in each age group?
Among players 33 or older, one who started the most matches in the Brasileirão is Steven Mendoza of Athletico Paranaense, born in 1992; among those 21 or younger, Arthur Dias of the same club, born in 2007.
| League | Aged 33 or older (year of birth, matches started) | Aged 21 or younger (year of birth, matches started) |
|---|---|---|
| Brasileirão | Steven Mendoza, Athletico Paranaense (1992, 32) | Arthur Dias, Athletico Paranaense (2007, 29) |
| Premier League | - | Luka Vuskovic, Brighton & Hove Albion (2007, 8) |
| LaLiga | Matías Dituro, Elche (1987, 10) | Lamine Yamal, Barcelona (2007, 10) |
| Serie A | Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Napoli (1993, 9) | Alessandro Romano, Cagliari (2006, 9) |
| Bundesliga | Oliver Baumann, Hoffenheim (1990, 7) | Ibrahim Maza, Bayer Leverkusen (2005, 7) |
| Ligue 1 | Lukáš Hrádecký, Monaco (1989, 8) | Genesis Antwi, Strasbourg (2007, 8) |
| J1 League | Seung-gyu Kim, FC Tokyo (1990, 12) | Yudai Shimamoto, Shimizu S-Pulse (2006, 9) |
The table lists one of the players who started the most matches in each group, and all 13 birth dates were checked on the official club or league site.
The birth dates of 18 players were looked up on official pages: 16 match, one has two official dates, one is missing from the page opened. No official page confirmed the Premier League's first three players 33 or older; that cell shows a dash.
In my reading, the question that remains is why, and this count answers only how many.
Read next
- Confederação Brasileira de Futebol: John Steven Mendoza Valencia | Confederação Brasileira de Futebol (opens in a new tab)
- Athletico Paranaense: Athletico Paranaense - Site Oficial » Steven Mendoza (opens in a new tab)
- Athletico Paranaense: Athletico Paranaense - Site Oficial » Arthur Dias (opens in a new tab)
- Brighton & Hove Albion: Luka Vuskovic (opens in a new tab)
- Elche CF: M. Dituro | Elche CF | Web Oficial (opens in a new tab)
- LaLiga: Matías Dituro LALIGA EA SPORTS | LALIGA (opens in a new tab)
- FC Barcelona: Lamine Yamal | 2026/2027 player page | Forward | FC Barcelona Official website (opens in a new tab)
- LaLiga: Lamine Yamal Nasraoui Ebana LALIGA EA SPORTS | LALIGA (opens in a new tab)
- Lega Serie A: Napoli: giocatori | Lega Serie A (opens in a new tab)
- Lega Serie A: Lega Serie A | Sito Ufficiale (opens in a new tab)
- Bundesliga: Oliver Baumann | TSG Hoffenheim | Player Profile | Bundesliga (opens in a new tab)
- Bayer 04 Leverkusen: Ibrahim Maza - Midfield | Bayer 04 (opens in a new tab)
- Bundesliga: Ibrahim Maza | Bayer 04 Leverkusen | Player Profile | Bundesliga (opens in a new tab)
- AS Monaco: La fiche technique de Lukáš Hrádecký gardien de l'AS Monaco | AS Monaco (opens in a new tab)
- RC Strasbourg Alsace: Genesis Antwi - Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace (opens in a new tab)
- FC Tokyo: 選手詳細｜FC東京オフィシャルホームページ (opens in a new tab)
- J.League: 【公式】キム スンギュ | ＦＣ東京 | Ｊリーグ公式サイト (opens in a new tab)
- J.League: 【公式】嶋本 悠大 | 清水エスパルス | Ｊリーグ公式サイト (opens in a new tab)
- Confederação Brasileira de Futebol: Fabio Deivson Lopes Maciel | Confederação Brasileira de Futebol (opens in a new tab)
- Fluminense Football Club: FÁBIO - Fluminense Football Club (opens in a new tab)
- Confederação Brasileira de Futebol: Marcelo Rangel Rosa | Confederação Brasileira de Futebol (opens in a new tab)
- Confederação Brasileira de Futebol: Breno de Souza Bidon | Confederação Brasileira de Futebol (opens in a new tab)
- Confederação Brasileira de Futebol: Gabriel Morais Silva Bontempo | Confederação Brasileira de Futebol (opens in a new tab)
Frequently asked questions
- Which league gives the most starting places to players 33 or older?
- The Brasileirão: in the seven leagues in the Soccer Addicted archive, to 28 October 2026, 18 of every 100 starting places went to players 33 or older. In Europe's five leagues the figure ranges from five to 11, and the Brasileirão's gap to each of the other six is beyond the margin.
- Where do players 21 or younger get the most starting places?
- Ligue 1 has the highest figure, 18 of every 100 places in the starting line-up, and the J1 League the lowest, three, among the seven leagues in the Soccer Addicted archive to 28 October 2026. The Bundesliga, at 15, and Serie A, at 12, are close enough to Ligue 1 to tie.
- Has the Brasileirão always been like this?
- No: in the Soccer Addicted archive, places for players 33 or older in the Brasileirão rose from ten in every 100 in 2015 to 18 in 2026, to 28 October, and for players 21 or younger fell from 16 to nine. The archive has no 2025 Brasileirão.
- Is this count the same as the average age of the squad?
- No: in the seven leagues in the Soccer Addicted archive, to 28 October 2026, the count uses starting places, the spots of players who start a match. A squad's average counts each player once: half aged 20 and half aged 36 gives 28, yet if only the 36-year-olds start, every place goes to players 33 or older.
- Do the European figures already cover a full season?
- Not yet: the figures for Europe's five leagues in the Soccer Addicted archive come from the start of the 2026/27 season, seven to ten matches per team, to 28 October 2026, and can change until May. The Brasileirão already covers 324 of 380 matches.
