Roger Milla’s record as the oldest goalscorer in FIFA World Cup history has survived Cristiano Ronaldo’s farewell tournament, with the Cameroon legend retaining his place at the top of the all-time list despite the Portugal captain’s remarkable feat of scoring at a record sixth World Cup, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Ronaldo, 41, found the back of the net against Uzbekistan in Portugal’s second group match at the 2026 tournament, becoming the second-oldest scorer in World Cup history at 41 years and 138 days.
He subsequently converted a penalty in Portugal’s last-32 win over Croatia before their quarter-final exit at the hands of Spain, pushing his record to 41 years and 147 days. Impressive as that is, it still falls short of Milla’s extraordinary mark of 42 years and 39 days, set when the Indomitable Lions legend scored against Russia at USA ‘94.
Milla first announced himself on the world stage at Italia ‘90, aged 38, when he scored four goals to help Cameroon become the first African nation to reach the quarter-finals of a World Cup.
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His trademark dance by the corner flag became one of football’s most enduring images. Four years later in the United States, he returned to the scoresheet against Russia, performing the wiggle once more before Cameroon lost 6-1 and crashed out at the group stage. That goal, scored at 42 years and 39 days, remains untouched more than three decades on.
Ronaldo’s efforts at this tournament did, however, push Argentina’s Lionel Messi off third place and down to fourth on the all-time list. Messi, who celebrated his 39th birthday during the tournament, netted against Austria on June 22 aged 38 years and 363 days to initially claim third spot, but Ronaldo’s later goal against Croatia moved the Portuguese ahead of him. Messi has since gone on to score against Jordan, Cape Verde and Egypt, taking his tally at these finals to eight goals, but his record age at time of scoring remains below Ronaldo’s.
Croatia’s Ivan Perisic and Austria’s Marko Arnautovic, both 37, also wrote their names into the history books at this tournament. Perisic’s strike against Portugal on July 3 placed him seventh on the all-time list, while Arnautovic’s goal against Algeria in Austria’s final group match put him ninth.
With the 2030 World Cup set to include matches in both Portugal and Argentina, the possibility of either Ronaldo or Messi returning to push for Milla’s record on home soil cannot be entirely dismissed, though it would require both men to be playing international football well into their forties.
Peter, who has been covering sports for PUNCH for close to two years, focuses on combat sports reporting, special features and human angle stories
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Source: The Punch
