Youngest and Oldest World Cup Players Of All Time
In the latest instalment of our World Cup blog, we talk about age and take a detailed look at the youngest players ever to represent their country at a World Cup. We’ll then explore the opposite side of the coin and present the oldest players that have participated in football’s most prestigious competition.
Youngest World Cup Players: The Top Ten
There is a famous saying in football, “if you are good enough, you are old enough” and some of the most successful teams ever to grace a football field have had their share of youth.
Sir Alex Fergusson was a huge advocate of giving his youngsters a chance. His gamble on the “Class of 92” paid huge dividends when his Manchester United team won the title despite pundit Alan Hansen’s assertion that “You can’t win anything with kids” in 1995. Fergusson’s team won the league with six players under the age of 23.
Since the first World Cup in 1930, so many great players have starred in the tournament, some at a very young age. In this section, we explore the youngest World Cup players;
Christian Eriksen (18 Years 4 Months) – Eriksen is a player that seems to have been around forever, and that’s not surprising, seeing as he made his first World Cup appearance in the World Cup in South Africa in 2010. Eriksen, who played for Brentford in the Premier League this year, came on as a substitute in Denmark’s 2-0 defeat to the Netherlands in their first group game.
Manuel Rosas (18 Years 2 Months 26 Days) – Rosas, nicknamed Chaquetas, was a Mexican midfielder who played in the very first World Cup that was held in Uruguay in 1930 alongside his older brother Felipe Rosas. Although he made his debut in Mexico’s first game against France, he made the history books in the match against Argentina, in which he scored a penalty to become the youngest World Cup goalscorer. Although this has been surpassed, he remains the second youngest goalscorer.
Carvalho Leite (18 Years 25 Days) – Leite is another player who, along with having the distinction of being one of the youngest World Cup players, also played in the first World Cup held in Uruguay. However, the Brazilian was two months younger than Rosas when he played in his country’s 2-1 loss to Yugoslavia. Leite had a career spanning 15 years and died on 19 July 2004, aged 92.
Rigobert Song (17 Years 11 Months 18 Days) – is another of those players that seem to be around forever due to his longevity in his career. Widely regarded as one of the best African defenders of all time, Song made his debut in Cameroon’s 2-2 draw with Sweden in the 1994 tournament and went on to play in four different World Cups.
Bartholomew Ogbeche (17 Years 8 Months 1 Day) – Ogbeche makes the list of the youngest World Cup players after making his debut for Nigeria in the first World Cup hosted in Asia in the Korea / Japan tournament in 2002. The youngster played in Nigeria’s opening two fixtures, losing against Argentina and then Sweden. He, however, didn’t feature in his country’s third game of the group.
Youngest World Cup Players: The Top Five
Pele (17 Years 7 Months 23 Days) – Pele needs no introduction to football fans as he stormed onto the scene during the 1958 tournament. Despite carrying an injury into the World Cup, he made his debut for Brazil at the World Cup in their final group game against the Soviet Union. Pele scored in that game and finished as the Golden Boot winner. He would go on to net 77 goals in total for his national team. Despite only being fifth on the all-time list for youngest World Cup players, Pele still holds the record as the youngest World Cup winner, aged 17 years 249 days, at the Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden, on 29 June 1958, when his team lifted the famous trophy.
Salomone Olembe (17 Years 6 Months 3 Days) – The Columbians are not afraid to give youth a chance, as you can see as Olembe is the third player from the country who is in the top ten youngest World Cup players. Olembe was named in the squad for the 1998 FIFA World Cup hosted in France and came on as a substitute after 64 minutes of Cameroon’s opening match against Austria.
Femi Opabunmi (17 Years 3 Months 9 Days) – Opabunmi is Nigeria’s youngest World Cup debutant, Africa’s second youngest and the third youngest of all time of all nationalities. The youngster first excelled in the under-17 FIFA World Cup tournament hosted in Trinidad and Tobago in 2001, and it was due to his performances, he was included in the 2002 FIFA World Cup squad.. Although he didn’t feature in the first two group games, he debuted in the third, a 0-0 draw with Nigeria.
Samuel Eto’o (17 Years 3 Months 7 Days) – Eto’o is widely recognised as one of the best strikers ever to play the game and remarkably made his debut for Cameroon before he had reached his 16th birthday. However, he had to wait longer for his World Cup debut, featuring at the 1998 World Cup hosted in France, aged three months older than 17. He replaced captain Francois Omam-Biyik in the final third of Cameroon’s 3-0 loss to Italy, replacing Olembe as Africa’s youngest debutant at the World Cup. Eto’o would go on to win the African Player of the Year a record four times: in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2010.
Norman Whiteside (17 Years And 41 Days) – With so many of the youngest World Cup players originating from the African continent, it may come as a surprise to learn that the youngest World Cup debutant was from much closer to home, Northern Ireland in fact! Whiteside began his playing career at Manchester United and signed as a professional in 1982 at the age of 17. He made his debut at the World Cup in the same year, playing in Northern Ireland’s opener at the 1982 World Cup, a 0-0 draw with Yugoslavia. Despite Whiteside breaking records 40 years ago, many of his records still stand. Along with being the youngest World Cup debutant, Whiteside still holds the record for youngest Manchester United scorer, the youngest FA Cup final scorer and the youngest to score in the League Cup final.
The Oldest World Cup Players: The Top Five
Now that we have explored the youngest players to have played in the World Cup finals, we shall turn our attention to the other extreme, the oldest World Cup players of all time, and you probably won’t be surprised that goalkeepers dominate the list.
Peter Shilton – 40 years, nine months, 19 days – Shilton was England’s number one for many years, and his last game for the Three Lions was the 1990 third-place play-off game between England and host-team Italy. Although unfortunately, it wasn’t Shilton’s finest game, a mistake allowed Robert Baggio to score and win the match. Despite hanging up his international gloves after this game on 125 caps, he played club football for seven more years.
Pat Jennings – 41 years – While England had Shilton, Northern Ireland had Pat Jennings, a mainstay between the posts since making his debut on 15 April 1964 in a British Home Championship match against Wales. Coincidently it was the same game in which George Best made his Irish debut. His final international game was on his 41st birthday, a game against Brazil in the 1986 World Cup, which they lost. He retired after that game to become the goalkeeping coach at Tottenham.
Roger Milla – 42 years, one month, eight days – Roger Milla is the only player in our list of World Cup oldest players that isn’t a goalkeeper. Playing as a striker, he made his final appearance on June 28, 1994, in Cameroon’s fixture v Russia. Milla was the oldest World Cup player for 20 years before being overtaken, but he still holds the record for the World Cup’s oldest scorer, which has stood for over 30 years. Milla made his debut in 1973 versus Zaire in a World Cup qualifier and made 77 appearances. He was a fan favourite when World Cup betting, scoring 43 goals for Cameroon.
Faryd Mondragón – 43 years, three days – It was Mondragón who knocked Roger Milla off the top spot as the oldest World Cup player after playing just a few days after his 43rd birthday in 2014. Although his record has since been surpassed, Mondragón still holds the record as the oldest player to feature in a World Cup group finals match. He retired after Brazil beat Columbia at the quarter-final stage.
Essam El-Hadary – 45 years, five months, ten days – Goalkeeper El-Hadary is the oldest World Cup player and by some margin. His appearance for Egypt against Saudi Arabia in June 2018 smashed the Guinness world record by almost two-and-a-half years, a record that stands today. His long international career spans from 1993 to 2019 and include 150 World Cup games. El-Hadary has won the Africa Cup of Nations four times, picking up the best goalkeeper award in three of the four.
The oldest World Cup winner of all time was Dino Zoff, who was part of Italy’s victorious team in the World Cup held in Spain in 1982. Zoff was aged 40 years, four months, and 13 days when lifting the trophy.
Women’s Football Records
In the Women’s game, players don’t tend to play as long as men – the record for the oldest player belongs to Sandrine Soubeyrand who was aged 39 years 340 days when she played for France against Denmark on July 22, 2013.
The youngest player is Oksana Yakovyshyn was was just 16 years and 156 days when she played for Ukraine against Netherlands in August 2009.
With the Women’s World Cup fast approaching, we may see some more records broken depending on who gets called up to play for their country.
Want some more interesting stats about the World Cup? Check out our World Cup Squad Builder that contains facts and figures about players and teams, and you can also select your best eleven players for your country.
