Cristiano Ronaldo and Bekhrouz Karimov share World Cup age gap record

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·24 June 2026

Cristiano Ronaldo and Bekhrouz Karimov share World Cup age gap record

Cristiano Ronaldo and Bekhrouz Karimov share the World Cup record for the biggest age gap between opposing players, 22 years and 183 days, as Portugal meet Uzbekistan at 19:00 on Tuesday at the 2026 World Cup in Houston.

According to the BBC, this is the largest age gap ever between two players appearing in the same World Cup match.

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Ronaldo was 41 years, four months and 18 days. Karimov was 18 years, 10 months and 16 days. Both started for their countries.

Karimov was born in Tashkent on seven August 2007. At that time Ronaldo was starring for Manchester United, had 43 Portugal caps, and had already played at a World Cup and a Euro.

The meeting formed part of the second round of group fixtures.

Source: L'Équipe