Age is just a number for some footballers. Some even play the game on the grandest stage of all just before the end of their career. Here, we chart the oldest players in World Cup history.
The Top 10 Oldest Players in World Cup History
Essam El Hadary – Egypt vs Saudi Arabia (25 June 2018) – 45 years, 161 days Faryd Mondragón – Colombia vs Japan (24 June 2014) – 43 years, 3 days Roger Milla – Cameroon vs Russia (28 June 1994) – 42 years, 39 days Pat Jennings – Northern Ireland vs Brazil (12 June 1986) – 41 years, 0 days Peter Shilton – England vs Italy (7 July 1990) – 40 years, 292 days Dino Zoff – Italy vs Germany (11 July 1982) – 40 years, 133 days Ali Boumnijel – Tunisia vs Ukraine (23 June 2006) – 40 years, 71 days Jim Leighton – Scotland vs Morocco (23 June 1998) – 39 years, 334 days David James – England vs Germany (27 June 2010) – 39 years, 330 days Atiba Hutchinson – Canada vs Morocco (1 December 2022) – 39 years, 296 days1. Essam El Hadary(45 years, 161 days)
Egypt vs Saudi Arabia – 25 June 2018
After defeats in their first two matches at the 2018 FIFA World Cup marked a somewhat disappointing return to the finals for the first time in 28 years, Egypt didn’t have much reason to cheer heading into the final match with Saudi Arabia. That was until the team sheets were handed in and an ever-present of their triple Africa Cup of Nations success from 2008-2012 took his place between the sticks to make goalkeeper Essam El Hadary the oldest player in World Cup history. He also became the oldest player to make their debut.
It wasn’t exactly a quiet day at the office for El Hadary. He was called into action to save a first-half penalty (making him the first African to save a penalty at the World Cup finals), and then he was beaten by a second spot-kick on the stroke of half-time. Egypt eventually suffered a 2-1 defeat in Volgograd.
Having made his international debut in 1996, 10 months before the youngest member of the Egyptian national team’s 2018 World Cup squad was born, El Hadary made 159 appearances for his country, winning the AFCON title on four occasions while also being named the best goalkeeper of the tournament three times.
2. Faryd Mondragón(43 years, 3 days)
Colombia vs Japan – 24 June 2014
With victory and knockout-stage qualification assured in Colombia’s final group-stage match against Japan, head coach José Pékerman allowed Faryd Mondragón one last moment in the sun. With five minutes to go, the goalkeeper broke the record as the oldest player to appear in a World Cup game. Of course, that record would be broken four years later by El Hadary.
The Colombian shot-stopper does still hold one key record, though. Having been part of Colombia’s squad for the 1998 World Cup in France, in which he started all three of their group games, the gap of 15 years and 363 days between Mondragón’s successive appearances in the finals is still the longest a player has had to wait between two World Cup games.
For Mondragón, this would be the final bow. After elimination in the quarter-finals by Brazil, he announced his retirement from all football, having made his first international appearance against Venezuela in 1993.
3. Roger Milla(42 years, 39 days)
Cameroon vs Russia – 12 June 1994
Two records for the price of one here. Not only did Roger Milla become the oldest player in World Cup history at the time, he also got himself on the scoresheet with the consolation goal in a 6-1 defeat to Russia (the same match in which Oleg Salenko set the record for the most goals by an individual player with five) to become the competition’s oldest goalscorer, a record he still holds. It would prove to be the final goal of Milla’s lengthy international playing career that had appeared to have ended six years previously at the age of 36.
Only pleas from Cameroon’s president drew Milla out of retirement to join Les Lions Indomitable’s 1990 World Cup campaign in Italy. With it, he caught the world’s attention with his goals and corner-flag celebrations, and helped his country become the first African nation to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup.
One of the most iconic #WorldCup performances, both in front of goal, and with a corner flag!A very happy 7⃣0⃣ birthday to the one and only @roger_milla_9. @FecafootOfficie pic.twitter.com/SwWP6dfyVr
— FIFA (@FIFAcom) May 20, 2022Milla would end his career having played 77 times for Cameroon after making his debut in 1973, scoring 43 goals. His World Cup debut came in 1982, when he started in all three group stage games. After the 1994 World Cup, Milla continued to play for another two seasons in Indonesia before finally calling time on his career.
4. Pat Jennings(41 years)
Northern Ireland vs Brazil – 12 June 1986
What a way to celebrate your 41st birthday: playing in a World Cup match for the final time and, in the process, setting a new mark for the oldest player to have done so. The only trouble for Pat Jennings is that he came up against a Brazil side who were in a mood to party, putting three past the birthday boy in Mexico.
Somewhat bizarrely, Jennings had retired from league football after the 1984-85 season, having been displaced as Arsenal’s number one by John Lukic, but continued to play for former club Tottenham Hotspur’s reserve team in order to maintain match sharpness.
Across an illustrious career that saw him heralded as one of the best goalkeepers of all time, Jennings played in over 1,000 top-level matches, including 119 games for Northern Ireland (second most in the country’s history behind Steven Davis). Famously, Jennings also got himself on the scoresheet in the 1967 Charity Shield while playing for Spurs with a long punt upfield from his own box bouncing over the head of Manchester United shot-stopper Alex Stepney.
5. Peter Shilton(40 years, 292 days)
England vs Italy – 7 July 1990
After being made to wait until he was 32 years old for his World Cup debut, Peter Shilton made up for lost time. The last of his 17 appearances in the tournament came in the 1990 third-place play-off, which would end in defeat for England. Shilton retired from international football after that game, having made a record 125 appearances for his country – a tally that nobody has topped to this day.
When thinking of Shilton’s standout moments during World Cup tournaments, focus will probably turn to his more negative experiences; either ‘The Hand of God’ goal by Diego Maradona for Argentina or his attempts to save penalties during the 1990 semi-final shootout against West Germany (penalty saves weren’t his forte during his international career – he stopped just one in 125 games). But it is worth remembering that across his three finals appearances, Shilton kept 10 clean sheets – a joint record held alongside France’s Fabien Barthez.
1990 wasn’t the end of Shilton’s career, though. He kept playing league football until 1996-97, doing so for then-third division side Leyton Orient, where he racked up his 1,000th English Football League game at the age of 47 before eventually retiring at the end of the campaign. Sadly, Shilton would never make a Premier League appearance, although he did find himself on the bench for both West Ham United and Coventry City.
Having spoken about the oldest players to play in a World Cup finals match, it’s only fair to briefly mention the oldest player to win the World Cup. That honour belongs to Italian Dino Zoff, who captained Italy to victory in the 1982 tournament in Spain at the age of 40 years and 133 days.
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