---
title: "Players' retirement"
description: "Players' retirement process"
url: https://support.goalunited.org/en/articles/159-players-retirement
collection: "The players"
updated: 2026-10-23
language: en
alternates: [fr, de, tr, pl, it, es]
---

# Players' retirement

Players' retirement process

**Players Retirement in goalunited is a realistic and dynamic retirement system** that adds more depth to player management. Aging stars naturally moves toward retirement, requiring managers to plan for the future more carefully.

**The Retirement Phase: Age 34–38**

Once a player reaches the age of **34**, he officially enters the **retirement phase**. From this point forward, the player can **decide to retire at any time** between the ages of 34 and 38.

**Key Points:**

-   Players aged **34–38** can leave the club **at any time** during this phase.
    
-   **Contracts can still be extended**, but this does **not** delay or prevent retirement.
    
-   **Fountain of Youth** and **Fountain of Youth Gold** cards **can no longer be used** on players in this age range.
    
-   Players can **still be sold**, but they will **no longer appear on the transfer market** once they reach this phase.
    
-   Their **skills decline rapidly**, roughly **twice as fast** as players aged 32–33.
    

**How Retirement Happens**

When a player decides to retire, the club receives a **retirement announcement** with the **exact date and time** of departure.

-   This announcement can occur **anytime between age 34 and 38**.
    
-   The **latest possible departure** is **two weeks** after reaching retirement age.
    
-   You always have **at least 7 days** to react after receiving the announcement.
    

**Your options during retirement announcement in the game**

When a player announces his retirement, a **pop-up notification** appears, giving you several choices:

1.  **Sell** the player– Put the player up for sale before he leaves.
    
2.  **Decide later** – Close the pop-up and deal with other retiring players first.
    

If multiple players are retiring at once, the pop-up will **combine all notifications**, allowing you to scroll through them easily rather than handling them one by one.

You can also **reopen the retirement pop-up** at any time by viewing the player’s details and clicking the **retirement button**.

**Squad Stability and Replacement Players**

In cases where multiple retirements leave your team shorthanded, the system will automatically **add replacement players** to maintain a playable squad.

-   Replacement players will have a **Strength value between 1.6 and 2.2**.
    
-   This only happens if your **squad size drops to 16 players or fewer**, including temporary and soon-to-retire players.
    

This ensures your club can continue competing even during major roster transitions.

> **Warning:** Players’ positions cannot be changed once they announce their retirement!