I have always wondered about this and decided to post this here about Brazilian player longevity in world cup winning teams.
-I find it strange that Pele was the lone lucky player to play in 1958 and 1962 and then come back and play again in 1970, thus winning 3 world cups. Although 12 years separate 1958 from 1970, I still find it fascinating that only 1 player made it. For example, looking at Brazil's squad in 1958, beside Pele being 17 year old and the yougest player, there was a few other ones who were relatively young as well, but still didn't last till 1970 .For example, there was one player at 19 years old, two more at 22 and two more at 23. Obviously, just because they were very young, doesn't mean thet would have been good enough 12 years later when they would have been at 30-33 years old.
-Never mind 1958 to 1970, that is 12 years old and some may think it is a long time for a player to remain part of one team (other than Pele, who was from another planet and was a teenager when he started anyway, so time was on his side) , even from the 1962 to 1970 (only 8 years apart) only one player was part of both teams, and you guessed it, Pele! Like seriously? Only Pele made the transition from 1962 to 1970? Does it have to do with the miserable 1966 campaign, where most players weren't retained other than Pele?
-It doesn't end there. From the 1994 team that won the world cup, only 2 players were retained for the 2002 world cup winning team, 8 years later: Ronaldo and Cafu. I find this surprising too, not having more than 2 players from two teams that were only 8 years apart. Romario could have made it, had it not been for Scolari being so stubborn. Ronaldo, just like Pele, was 17 years old in 1994 (and didn't play a single minute) . Leonardo was only 24 when he won the World Cup in 1994. He played in 1998. But wasn't lucky enough to be recalled in 2002, when he would have been only 32 year old. He was even part of the 2002 qualifying campaign, but didn't make it to the final 2002 team. He too would have joined Ronaldo and Cafu as having won the world cup both in 1994 and 2002.
BTW (and this is probably already obvious to a lot of you), the list of players that won more than 1 world cup has only 3 countries: Brazil (16) , Italy (4), Argentina (1) . For Argentina, just like Brazil, they only retained one player from 1978 to 1986.
List of players with more than 1 world cup
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_players_who_have_won_multiple_FIFA_World_Cups
ASHOOR
-I find it strange that Pele was the lone lucky player to play in 1958 and 1962 and then come back and play again in 1970, thus winning 3 world cups. Although 12 years separate 1958 from 1970, I still find it fascinating that only 1 player made it. For example, looking at Brazil's squad in 1958, beside Pele being 17 year old and the yougest player, there was a few other ones who were relatively young as well, but still didn't last till 1970 .For example, there was one player at 19 years old, two more at 22 and two more at 23. Obviously, just because they were very young, doesn't mean thet would have been good enough 12 years later when they would have been at 30-33 years old.
-Never mind 1958 to 1970, that is 12 years old and some may think it is a long time for a player to remain part of one team (other than Pele, who was from another planet and was a teenager when he started anyway, so time was on his side) , even from the 1962 to 1970 (only 8 years apart) only one player was part of both teams, and you guessed it, Pele! Like seriously? Only Pele made the transition from 1962 to 1970? Does it have to do with the miserable 1966 campaign, where most players weren't retained other than Pele?
-It doesn't end there. From the 1994 team that won the world cup, only 2 players were retained for the 2002 world cup winning team, 8 years later: Ronaldo and Cafu. I find this surprising too, not having more than 2 players from two teams that were only 8 years apart. Romario could have made it, had it not been for Scolari being so stubborn. Ronaldo, just like Pele, was 17 years old in 1994 (and didn't play a single minute) . Leonardo was only 24 when he won the World Cup in 1994. He played in 1998. But wasn't lucky enough to be recalled in 2002, when he would have been only 32 year old. He was even part of the 2002 qualifying campaign, but didn't make it to the final 2002 team. He too would have joined Ronaldo and Cafu as having won the world cup both in 1994 and 2002.
BTW (and this is probably already obvious to a lot of you), the list of players that won more than 1 world cup has only 3 countries: Brazil (16) , Italy (4), Argentina (1) . For Argentina, just like Brazil, they only retained one player from 1978 to 1986.
List of players with more than 1 world cup
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_players_who_have_won_multiple_FIFA_World_Cups
ASHOOR
