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Oldest Players at the World Cup

The oldest player to appear at the World Cup was Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El Hadary who was 45-years and 161-days-old when he took the field for his team's final group match against Saudi Arabia on 25 June 2018. This surpassed the record set in 2014 by Colombia goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon, who appeared in a 4-1 win over Japan on 24 June 2014 aged 43 years and 3 days old. All except no.10 Ángel Labruna are goal keepers. See also our list of the youngest players, and Oldest and Youngest Players Trivia.

Top-10 List of the Oldest Players

Rank Age Player Country World Cup
1 45 years, 161 days Essam El Hadary Egypt 2018
2 43 years, 3 days Faryd Mondragón Colombia 2014
3 42 years, 39 days

Roger Milla

Cameroon 1994
4 41 years, 0 days

Pat Jennings

Northern Ireland 1986
5 40 years, 292 days

Peter Shilton

England 1990
6 40 years, 41 days

Dino Zoff

Italy 1982
7 40 years, 38 days

Ali Boumnijel

Tunisia 2006
8 39 years, 310 days

Jim Leighton

Scotland 1998
9 39 years, 306 days

David James

England 2010
10 39 years, 242 days

Angel Labruna

Argentina 1958

Other noteworthy old players



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