Zlatan Ibrahimovic called up by Sweden at 41: Five other old internationals

Tom Weber

• 15 Mar 2023 12:06 CDT
• 3 min read

Zlatan Ibrahimovic's call-up for Sweden's upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers could see him break a long-standing record. But he isn't the only oldie to feature at the international level - here are five more players who aged like a fine wine.

We have to start with none other than Dino Zoff. The legendary goalkeeper holds several age-related records due to his long commitment to the Italian national team.

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In fact, should 41-year-old Zlatan actually suit up for Sweden, he will break one of Zoff's records. In 1983, the Italian became the oldest player to be used in a Euro qualifier, aged 40 years and 90 days, but his record likely won't stand for much longer.

Famously, Zoff is also the oldest player to have won the World Cup, doing so in Spain in 1982 at 40 years and 133 days old.

Unsurprisingly, goalkeepers feature prominently here as they tend to play longer than outfield players, so the decision to include Gianluigi Buffon shouldn't be an egregious one.

Though he retired from international football in 2017, Buffon came back a year later to start in a friendly against Argentina at 40 years, 1 month and 26 days old.

Legendary goalkeeper Peter Shilton also continued playing well into his 40s. England's most-capped player made his final appearance for the Three Lions at Italia '90, aged 40 years and 292 days

Small names with big stories

You don't have to be a big name (or a goalkeeper) to have a long international career, and nobody exemplifies this better than Ildefons Lima. The experienced defender is still playing for small Andorra at an impressive 43 years of age.

The distinction of being the oldest player to ever feature at a World Cup, meanwhile, belongs to Essam El-Hadary.

The Egyptian shot-stopper started against Saudi Arabia at the 2018 World Cup and saved a penalty at 45 years and 161 days old, easily breaking the record former Galatasaray man Faryd Mondragón had set at the previous World Cup.