Cristiano Ronaldo Becomes 2nd Oldest Player To Score A Goal In FIFA World Cup

Cristiano Ronaldo is leading Portugal at the FIFA World Cup 2026, and he needed just six minutes on Tuesday (June 23) to score his first goal of this year’s tournament. In Portugal’s second Group K match against Uzbekistan

at NRG Stadium in Houston, Ronaldo opened his account for the competition. The goal helped him enter the record books as the second-oldest player to score in a FIFA World Cup match.

The record for being the oldest goal-scorer in FIFA World Cup history belongs to Roger Milla. The Cameroonian legend was 42 years and 39 days old when he scored against Russia in a group-stage match at the FIFA World Cup 1994.

Ronaldo, meanwhile, is 41 years and 138 days old as of June 23, 2026.

Oldest goal scorers in FIFA World Cup

PLAYER	COUNTRY	AGE	AGAINST	YEAR
Roger Milla	Cameroon	42 years, 39 days	Russia	1994
Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	41 years, 138 days	Uzbekistan	2026
Pepe	Portugal	39 years, 283 days	Switzerland	2022
Lionel Messi	Argentina	38 years, 363 days	Austria	2026
Gunnar Gren	Sweden	37 years, 236 days	West Germany	1958
Cuauhtemoc Blanco	Mexico	37 years, 151 days	France	2010
Felipe Baloy	Panama	37 years, 120 days	England	2018
Marko Arnautovic	Austria	37 years, 58 days	Jordan	2026
Obdulio Varela	Uruguay	36 years, 279 days	England	1954
Martin Palermo	Argentina	36 years, 227 days	Greece	2010
Georges Bregy	Switzerland	36 years, 152 days	USA	1994
Ramin Rezaeian	Iran	36 years, 86 days	New Zealand	2026
Olivier Giroud	France	36 years, 71 days	England	2022
Tom Finney	England	36 years, 64 days	Soviet Union	1958
Miroslav Klose	Germany	36 years, 29 days	Brazil	2014

The previous record

for the oldest goal scorer for Portugal in a FIFA World Cup match was held by Pepe. He was 39 years and 283 days old when he scored for Portugal in the Round of 16 match against Switzerland at the FIFA World Cup 2022.

The goal against Uzbekistan in the sixth minute of the match also helped Ronaldo become the first and only player in the world to score in six different editions of the FIFA World Cup. He scored one goal each in the 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2022 editions for Portugal, while he found the back of the net four times at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

If Ronaldo scores one more goal in the ongoing match, he will take his FIFA World Cup tally to 10 goals and surpass Eusébio to become Portugal’s all-time leading goalscorer in the tournament. Eusébio represented Portugal at the 1966 FIFA World Cup and scored nine goals.