In March this year, Craig Gordon sat across from Usamah Jannoun, a London-based spine specialist, and listened as the surgeon delivered one of the starkest assessments a professional footballer could ever receive. The procedure Gordon required for a serious neck injury, Jannoun explained, carried risks of paralysis — or death.
Months later, Gordon was standing on American soil as part of the Scotland squad that ended the country's 28-year wait to compete at a FIFA World Cup 2026. At 43, he became the oldest player at the tournament.
A career defined by comeback
Gordon describes his time in football as a relentless sequence of comebacks. He has battled ankle problems, broken arms, a broken leg, multiple knee surgeries, and serious neck and shoulder issues. By his own account, those injuries cost him an estimated 1,975 days of football — roughly 200 matches.
The most brutal chapter came in 2012, when a diagnosis of patellar tendonitis threatened to end everything. His then-club Sunderland, unconvinced that the pain preventing him from climbing stairs or walking normally was physical in origin, sent him to a psychologist. It was. He visited specialists in Sweden and Spain, underwent three surgeries, and ignored a surgeon's advice to retire. From 2012 to 2014, he played no football at all.
