Oldest World Cup knockout stage scorers as Ronaldo breaks old team-mate’s record | OneFootball

Cristiano Ronaldo has finally got his first World Cup knockout stage goal and it’s made him the oldest player to ever do so.

Probably reeling from seeing Lionel Messi break the big record as the World Cup’s all-time top scorer, Ronaldo just hasn’t been able to let go. First he set the record for scoring in the most World Cup tournaments and now he’s the oldest ever scorer of a goal in the World Cup knockout stage.

During Portugal’s win over Croatia in the round of 32, he broke the record that was held by one of his former teammates, Pepe, a quarter of an hour after Ivan Perisic scored a goal that also put him into the top five.

Ronaldo and Perisic are joined in the top 10 oldest World Cup knockout scorers from another entrant from this year’s round of 32, Mexico’s Raul Jimenez, although he will inevitably be bumped off the list once Messi scores one. Which is going to happen, right?

There are in fact plenty of familiar names from recent tournaments in the top 10. As well as Pepe, Olivier Giroud scored at the last World Cup before this one.

Interestingly, the oldest scorers in World Cup semi-finals and finals are both Swedes, from their run to being runners up in 1958.

Gunnar Gren was 37 when he scored in the semis and Nils Liedholm was 35 when he scored in the final.

If either Ronaldo or Messi manage to reach those stages of this year’s competition and mark it with a goal, they would set a new record in that regard.

Here are the 10 oldest scorers in World Cup knockout matches.

Oldest scorers in World Cup knockout games

1. Cristiano Ronaldo – 41 years, 4 months and 28 days (Portugal 2-1 Croatia, 2026 round of 32)

2. Pepe – 39 years, 9 months and 10 days (Portugal 6-1 Switzerland, 2022 round of 16)

3. Gunnar Gren – 37 years, 7 months and 24 days (Sweden 3-1 Germany, 1958 semi-final)

4. Ivan Perisic – 37 years, 5 months and 1 day (Portugal 2-1 Croatia, 2026 round of 32)

5. Obdulio Varela – 36 years, 9 months and 6 days (Uruguay 4-2 England, 1954 quarter-final)

6. Olivier Giroud – 36 years, 2 months and 10 days (England 1-2 France, 2022 quarter-final)

7. Miroslav Klose – 36 years and 29 days (Brazil 1-7 Germany, 2014 semi-final)

8. Nils Liedholm – 35 years, 8 months and 21 days (Brazil 5-2 Sweden, 1958 final)

9. Giovanni van Bronckhorst – 35 years, 5 months and 1 day (Uruguay 2-3 Netherlands, 2010 semi-final)