Who is the oldest player to feature in a FIFA World Cup?
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. FIFA World Cup 2026 will be no different, with plenty of players in their golden years making what could be their final FWC bow.
With that in mind, we've listed the top ten oldest players to appear in the FIFA World Cup before the latest edition in 2026. Seven of them were aged 40 or older with only two 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 0d | Pat Jennings | Northern Ireland | Northern Ireland 0-3 Brazil | 12/06/1986 |
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 71d | Ali Boumnijel | Tunisia | Ukraine 1-0 Tunisia | 23/06/2006 |
39y 334d | Jim Leighton | Scotland | Scotland 0-3 Morocco | 23/06/1998 |
39y 330d | David James | England | Germany 4-1 England | 27/06/2010 |
39y 296d | Atiba Hutchinson | Canada | Canada 1-2 Morocco | 01/12/2022 |
Goalkeepers dominate this list with Roger Milla of Cameroon the only outfield player in the top five. 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 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 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 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 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.
