What is the perfect age to win the World Cup?

Of the 22 teams to have won the World Cup, 19 of them had an average age of between 26 and 28 years old when doing so.

That will be welcome news to England, France and Spain, whose average ages of their starting 11s at this World Cup all fit that age bracket.

If you listed the average starting ages of the 22 World Cup-winning teams of the past, the median average is 27 years and 57 days old.

Should Argentina go on to win the tournament, they would do so as one of the oldest sides to ever become World Cup champions.

The average starting age of their starting 11 against Switzerland was 30.5 years old, with their team consisting of five players aged 32 or older. Lionel Messi, 39, is among them.

Across the whole tournament, Argentina's starting 11 has averaged an age of 29 years and 302 days old, although their last two starting sides have had an average age above 30.

Only one team has ever won the World Cup with an average age of 29 or older. That was Brazil in 1962, whose average age of their starting 11s throughout the tournament was 30 years and 204 days.

Just two nations have won a World Cup with a tournament starting 11 average age below 26 years old. Argentina's 1978 cup-winning squad (25 years, 195 days) and France in 2018 (25 years, 326 days) are the two youngest average starting 11s to win a World Cup.

How do England's squad compare to typical World Cup winning ages?

Of England's squad currently in North America, just two are aged 27 years old.

Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah is the closest to the median age of being a starting member of a World Cup-winning side. He would be 27 years and 14 days old on Sunday's final, should England get there. However, Chalobah is yet to feature at the tournament.

Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice, who has started five of England's six matches so far, is just over 27-and-a-half years old, meaning he is the closest of England's regular players this summer to being at median World Cup-winning age.

Jude Bellingham, Elliot Anderson, Jarell Quansah, Morgan Rogers and James Trafford are all aged 23. At the 2030 World Cup in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, the quintet will have turned 27, meaning they are at prime World Cup-winning age.

Of the 26-man squad, seven are aged between 26 and 28. That is the age that has produced 86.4% of World Cup average starting ages.

Based on average ages of starting 11s at the 2026 World Cup so far, England have the youngest team of the four semi-finalists. They have averaged an age of 26 years and 255 days old in their starting line-ups.

Spain (26 years, 271 days), who play France in Tuesday's first semi-final, also have a median age below 27.

France have the second-oldest squad of the remaining four, but are also close to prime age with an average age so far of 27 years and 194 days.

This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team.

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