Leisure-time physical activity is associated with better health and a reduced 
risk of all-cause mortality. It is unclear if this association is also present 
with a high level of physical activity as it is found in professional athletes. 
In a population-based retrospective cohort study, we compared the survival 
experience of all soccer players participating for Germany in international 
matches between 1908 and 2006 to that of the general population. To summarize 
survival experience, we calculated cumulative relative survival ratios (RSRs) 
from a life table. We included data of 812 international players, of which 428 
(=52.7%) died during follow-up. In all 13 intervals, cumulative observed 
survival was smaller than cumulative expected survival, resulting in cumulative 
RSRs being <1. The cumulative RSRs are statistically significantly different 
from 1 in all but the last interval. This impaired survival experience of the 
internationals translates into a loss of median residual lifetime of 1.9 years 
[95% confidence interval: 0.6, 3.2] years at the entry time into the cohort. 
This loss is mainly driven by the mortality of internationals from the earlier 
half of the observation period. Reasons for this might be poorer medical care in 
former times, internationals being killed in action during World War II, and a 
changing distribution of causes of death during the 20th century.