Egypt keeper El Hadary to become World Cup´s oldest player

Essam El Hadary will become the oldest player in World Cup history when he lines up for Egypt against Saudi Arabia on Monday.

The goalkeeper appeared five times in qualifying and, at 45 years and 161 days old, he will make his finals debut in Volgograd, with Egypt and Saudi Arabia playing just for pride having already been eliminated.

El Hadary takes the record from Faryd Mondragon, who appeared in goal for Colombia in 2014 just three days after his 43rd birthday.

There are three managers at Russia 2018 – Serbia’s Mladen Krstajic, Aliou Cisse of Senegal and Belgium boss Roberto Martinez – who are younger than the Pharaohs keeper.

إليكم تشكيل #الفراعنة  لمباراة اليوم أمام @SaudiNT #worldcup  #ThePharaohs #KSAEGY pic.twitter.com/nM4cB6inSn

— Egypt National Football Team (@Pharaohs) June 25, 2018

Mohamed Salah will also start for Egypt, despite reports he was considering quitting the national team over a controversial appearances alongside Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.