Who is the oldest player to feature in a FIFA World Cup?
by Alex Sarwar ·
Updated
One of the most highly-anticipated moments of any FIFA World Cup is the nostalgia of watching veteran players continue to make a mark on the tournament despite coming towards the end of their careers.
We've listed the top ten oldest players to appear in the FIFA World Cup. All ten of them were aged 40 or older with only four of the ten being outfield players.
AGE (Years/Days) | PLAYER | NATIONALITY | MATCH | DATE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
45y 161d | Essam El-Hadary | Egypt | Saudi Arabia 2-1 Egypt | 25/06/2018 |
43y 3d | Faryd Mondragon | Colombia | Japan 1-4 Colombia | 24/06/2014 |
42y 39d | Roger Milla | Cameroon | Russia 6-1 Cameroon | 28/06/1994 |
41y 151d | Cristiano Ronaldo | Portugal | Spain 1-0 Portugal | 06/07/2026 |
41y 0d | Pat Jennings | Northern Ireland | Northern Ireland 0-3 Brazil | 12/06/1986 |
40y 346d | Guillermo Ochoa | Mexico | Czechia 0-3 Mexico | 24/06/2026 |
40y 296d | Luka Modric | Croatia | Portugal 2-1 Croatia | 02/07/2026 |
40y 292d | Peter Shilton | England | Italy 2-1 England | 07/07/1990 |
40y 133d | Dino Zoff | Italy | Italy 3-1 West Germany | 11/07/1982 |
40y 106d | Edin Dzeko | Bosnia and Herzegovina | USA 2-0 Bosnia | 01/07/2026 |
Roger Milla of Cameroon is the oldest outfield player on the list. A forward notorious for that famous celebration at Italia 90, Milla scored four goals in that tournament as a 38-year-old and at 42 years old, made his final FIFA World Cup appearance in 1994.
Those players to have made a FWC appearance at an older age than Milla are both goalkeepers, Faryd Mondragon of Colombia and Egypt's Essam El-Hadary. The latter currently stands as the oldest player to feature at a FIFA World Cup, having done so as a 45-year-old against Saudi Arabia in 2018. Mondragon had turned 43 just a few days before his final FIFA World Cup appearance in 2014.
The oldest player to play in a FIFA World Cup final is also a goalkeeper, that being Italian Dino Zoff in 1982. Zoff ended his FIFA World Cup career in fairytale fashion, captaining the Azzurri to victory over West Germany in Madrid at 40 years of age and lifting the famous trophy.
