5 FIFA World Cup stars who prematurely retired from international football 

We are a little more than 6 months away from the commencement of the 21st edition of the FIFA World Cup in Russia. The whole of Russia is eagerly waiting for football’s biggest extravaganza with excitement and anticipation.

Over the past eight decades, several of the world’s greatest footballers like Pele, Cruyff and Maradona have played at the World Cup with many of them cementing their spot amongst the game’s all-time greats while many began their journey to stardom at this stage.

There have been numerous players who have mesmerized football fans through their performances at the World Cup. However, there are also quite some players who have produced scintillating performances at the FIFA World but ended their international careers prematurely. Here are 5 World Cup stars who retired from international football prematurely.

#5 Oleg Salenko, Russia

The 1994 World Cup was Russia’s first tournament after the breakup of Soviet Union. They did not have a memorable outing as they crashed out in the first round after losing to Sweden and Brazil. A win against Cameroon only salvaged some pride as their credentials weren’t good enough to be merited a spot amongst the best third-placed teams in the groups (the last World Cup this rule was deployed) and were out.

However, the only silver-lining Russia had in a rather cloudy showing was the performance of 24-year old striker Oleg Salenko. Salenko made himself a star at the tournament through only one match and that was against Cameroon. Salenko scored 5 goals in an eventual 6-1 win for Russia. This was a record for the most number of goals scored in a World Cup match, bettering the previous record of four goals held by Ernst Wilimowski, Ademir, Sandor Kocsis, Just Fontaine and Eusebio.

Salenko ended the tournament with 6 goals, having scored one against Sweden. He along with Hristo Stoichkov shared the Golden Boot. However, surprisingly, Salenko never played another international match for Russia following the 1994 World Cup. Salenko did have a few short stints in club football with Valencia and Rangers before injuries forced him to end his football career in his early 30s.

#4 Bert Patenaude, United States

Patenaude's (R) international career ended when he was only 20

Bert Patenaude is a name that is of utmost significance to American football and World Cup history. He represented United States at the inaugural FIFA World Cup in 1930 and scored a goal in their opening match against Belgium.

Then came 17th July, 1930. This was the day when USA were up against Paraguay at Montevideo. Patenaude opened the scoring in the 10th minute and doubled the score in the 15th minute. He scored a third in the 50th minute to become the first player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup match. Well at least according the US Football Federation at that time. FIFA had credited the goal to Tom Florie then declared it as an own goal by Paraguayan forward Aurelio Gonzalez before finally awarding the goal to Patenaude in 2006.

Patenaude ended the tournament with 4 goals. Exactly a month after his hat-trick, he scored a brace in a 3-4 defeat to Brazil at Rio. He did not play a single match after that despite being only 20. His club career wasn’t very long either as he retired from professional football in 1936, aged 26.

#3 Just Fontaine, France

Just Fontaine retired from international football at the age of 29

Just Fontaine will always be remembered as one of the greatest footballers to have come out of France. He was one of the most lethal strikers of the 1950s and created quite a name for himself at the 1958 World Cup.

Fontaine scored in every single group match for France- a hat-trick against Paraguay followed by a brace against Yugoslavia and a goal against Scotland. Fontaine scored another brace in the quarter-finals against Northern Ireland. He scored one in France’s semi-final defeat to Sweden which brought his goal tally of the tournament to 9.

However, his finest performance of the tournament came in the 3rd-place play-off against Germany Gothenburg. Fontaine scored two goals in the first half which brought him level with Hungary’s Sandor Kocsis for the most number of goals in a single World Cup edition at 11. He then scored his second hat-trick of the tournament by scoring in the 78th minute to break Kocsis’ record. Fontaine scored a fourth goal in the 89th to end the tournament with 13 goals which remains the most number of goals scored at a single World Cup.

Fontaine played for France for another two years before ending his international career in 1960, aged only 26. A recurring injury cut Fontaine’s club career short and he retired from professional football in 1962, aged 29. He ended his international career with 30 goals in just 21 matches, 18 of them coming in 1958.

#2 Salvatore Schillaci, Italy

The Golden Ball and Golden Boot winner of the 1990 FIFA World Cup played only 8 matches for Italy following the tournament

There are only two players who have won both the Golden Ball and the Golden Boot at the FIFA World Cup (Mario Kempes was the best player of the tournament in 1978 as per FIFA’s official website but the award was not introduced at the time). Both are Italians- Paolo Rossi and Salvatore Schillaci.

Schillaci got a call-up to the Italian squad for the 1990 World Cup thanks to his performances with Juventus in the Serie A. He made his World Cup debut as a 75th-minute sub in Italy’s opening match against Austria at Rome. After only three minutes, Schillaci scored the winner which was his first goal for Italy.

He started Italy’s final group game against Czechoslovakia at Rome and scored the opening goal of the match in just the 9th minute. Schillaci’s third goal of the tournament is considered to be one of the finest goals of the tournament. This was a brilliant left-footed strike against Uruguay in the last 16.

His scoring prowess persisted as he scored Italy’s winner in the quarter-finals against Ireland. He scored his 5th goal of the tournament in the semi-finals against Argentina which Italy lost on penalties. This brought him on level terms with Czechoslovakia’s Tomas Skuhravy for the Golden Boot (Golden Shoe back then).

He overtook Skuhravy by scoring the winner in the third-place play-off against England. Following the World Cup, Schillaci played a few matches for Italy during the Euro 1992 qualifiers, scoring his 7th and final international goal in a loss against Norway at Oslo. His final international game came in 1991 against Bulgaria at Sofia when he was 26. He was never called up to the national team again.

Schillaci did play club football for a few more years, retiring in 1997 in Japan.

#1 Giuseppe Meazza, Italy

Italy's greatest player ended his international career at the age of 28

Before Pele, Giuseppe Meazza was widely considered to be the greatest footballer in the world. Meazza was in brilliant form with both Inter Milan and Italy during the early 30s and was called up to the squad for the 1934 World Cup.

Meazza scored two goals during Italy’s victorious campaign at the 1934 World Cup. One was against USA in the first round at Rome and the second came in the quarter-final replay against Spain at Florence. Meazza was adjudged the best player of the tournament and was in the tournament’s All-Star Team.

By the time the 1938 World Cup was around the corner, Meazza was leading Italy.

There was a lot of pressure on Italy before the 1938 World Cup as their Dictator Benito Mussolini sent a telegram to Meazza which read: “Win or die!” Meazza led Italy to the win and scored a goal against Brazil in the semi-finals.

However, only a year later, Meazza retired from international football at the age of 28 following a 3-2 win over Finland at Rome. He left Inter Milan in 1940 and had stints with AC Milan, Juventus, Varese and Atlanta before returning to Inter in 1946. He eventually finished his club career at Inter in 1947.