IFFHS NEWS - ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC IN THE CLUB OF 40 !



Picture : Zlatan Ibrahimovic ,on november 11, entered in the club of 40 !


Ibrahimovic enters the “Club of 40-year internationals”

On November 11, Zlatan Ibrahimovic became the 37th European footballer in the history to play for a national team after his 40th birthday.
Below we publish a ranking of such players, putting them in order of age at which they played their last international matches.
Greeks Koudas and Hatzipanagis are mentioned in the list, but not included in the ranking, since at the time of their last match they were long retired and their appearance had an exhibition nature.
The exact date of birth of Matthew Wilson (11th position in the ranking) is unknown. Only the year is known (1842). Therefore, the age at which he played in his last match can range from 41 years 54 days to 42 years 53 days.
As for Ibrahisovic, he played a full match against Greece. The event, however, turned out to be not very happy, as Sweden lost 0-2.
Apart from Zlatan, there are currently two more players playing for their national teams at age over 40 years: Ildefons Lima (Andorra) and Lee Casciaro (Gibraltar).
Lima, who will soon turn 42, got injured against England (0-5) on 9 October and was unable to play in the next two World Cup qualifiers.


 EUROPE'S    
 ALL-TIME OLDESTNATIONAL TEAMPLAYERS  
      
 PlayerCountryAgeDateGame
      
 Giorgos KoudasGreece 48-30120/09/1995Yugoslavia 0-2  
1Billy MeredithWales45-22915/03/1920England 2-1  
 Vasilis HatzipanagisGreece 45-04914/12/1999Ghana 1-1  
2Georgi PetkovBulgaria42-250 19/11/2018Slovenia 1-1  
3Elisha ScottNorthern Ireland42-200 11/03/1936Wales 3-2  
4Stanley MatthewsEngland42-10315/05/1957Denmark 4-1  
5Jákup MikkelsenFaroe Islands41-36515/08/2012Iceland 0-2  
6Ildefons LimaAndorra41-30309/10/2021England 0-5
7Roman BerezovskyArmenia41-23325/03/2016Belarus 0-0  
8Alec MortenEngland41-11308.03.1873Scotland 4-2  
9Dino ZoffItaly41-09029/05/1983Sweden 0-2  
10Albert BeuchatSwitzerland41-06314/02/1932Italy 0-3  
11Matthew Wilson Northern Ireland41-054+23.02.1884England 1-8  
12Mario FrickLiechtenstein41-03512/10/2015Austria 0-3  
13Pat JenningsNorthern Ireland41-00012/06/1986Brazil 0-3  
14Juli SánchezAndorra40-356 11/06/2019France 0-4  
15Ernest ArendLuxembourg40-29901/06/1930Belgium 4-7  
16Peter ShiltonEngland40-29207/07/1990Italy 1-2  
17Patsy GallagherIreland40-27213/12/1931Spain 0-5  
18Jack HendersonIreland40-25411.04.1885Wales 2-8  
19Serghei StroencoMoldova40-237 17/10/2007Malta 3-2  
20Billy LaceyIreland40-22911/05/1930Belgium 3-1  
21Gábor KirályHungary 40-22815/11/2016Sweden 0-2  
22Moses RussellWales40-18117/11/1928England 2-3  
23David WeirScotland40-15512/10/2010Spain 2-3  
24Andy SelvaSan Marino40-14111/10/2016Norway 1-4  
25Bogdan LobonţRomania40-13805/06/2018Finland 2-0  
26Jim LeightonScotland40-078 10/10/1998Estonia 3-2  
27Jerzy DudekPoland40-07304/06/2013Liechtenstein 2-0 
28Gianluigi BuffonItaly 40-05423/03/2018Argentina 0-2  
29Shay GivenIreland40-04131/05/2016Belarus 1-2  
30Zlatan IbrahimovicSweden40-03911/11/2021Georgia 0-2
31Maik TaylorNorthern Ireland40-03711/10/2011Italy 0-3  
32Billy McCrackenNorthern Ireland40-033 03/03/1923Scotland 0-1  
33Sargis HovsepyanArmenia40-01214/11/2012Lithuania 4-2  
33Lee CasciaroGibraltar40-01211/10/2021Netherlands 0-6
35Birkir KristinssonIceland40-00318/08/2004Italy 2-0