WORLD CUP RECORDS (Part 21) - THE OLDEST GOAL SCORER
Picture : Roger Milla scored on 28 June 1994 against Russia to beat the record !
Oldest Scorer: Roger Milla
*Roger Milla is out of competition in this category. He scored two goals for Cameroon vs Colombia at 1990 World Cup at 38 years 34 days. Even with these numbers, he would remain the oldest ever goal-scorer in World Cup history until now. But he managed to add another 4 years to his record when he scored again in 1994 vs Russia. His final mark (42 years 39 days) will unlikely be beaten soon. And for sure not in Qatar.
*Milla still enjoys a comfortable gap from the next players in the ranking of oldest scorers. The “runner-up” Gunnar Gren (Sweden) was “only” 37 years 236 days old when he scored for Sweden at the 1958 World Cup.
Cristiano Ronaldo (37 years 288 days at the start of 2022 World Cup) will surpass Gren if he scores in Qatar.
*Cristiano Ronaldo is the oldest hat-trick scorer in a World Cup (33 years 130 days, vs Spain, 2018).
Rob Rensenbrink held this record before him for 30 years (hat-trick for the Netherlands vs Iran, 1978, at 30 years 335 days).
*Nils Liedholm (Sweden) is the oldest goal-scorer of a final game (35 years 264 days, vs Brazil, 1958).
| OLDEST GOAL-SCORERS | IN WORLD CUPS | ||||
| Player | Country | Age (Y-D) | Date | Game | |
| 1 | Roger Milla | Cameroon | 42-039 | 28/06/1994 | Russia 1-6 |
| 2 | Gunnar Gren | Sweden | 37-236 | 24/06/1958 | Germany 3-1 |
| 3 | Cuauhtémoc Blanco | Mexico | 37-151 | 17/06/2010 | France 2-0 |
| 4 | Felipe Baloy | Panama | 37-120 | 24/06/2018 | England 1-6 |
| 5 | Obdulio Varela | Uruguay | 36-279 | 26/06/1954 | England 4-2 |
| 6 | Martin Palermo | Argentina | 36-227 | 22/06/2010 | Greece 2-0 |
| 7 | Georges Bregy | Switzerland | 36-156 | 18/06/1994 | United States 1-1 |
| 8 | Tom Finney | England | 36-064 | 08/06/1958 | Soviet Union 2-2 |
| 9 | Miroslav Klose | Germany | 36-029 | 08/07/2014 | Brazil 7-1 |
| 10 | John Aldridge | Republic of Ireland | 35-280 | 24/06/1994 | Mexico 1-2 |