By the time the 2018 FIFA World Cup™ rolled around, veteran goalkeeper Essam El Hadary was well into his fifth decade, had banked more than 150 Egypt caps, and won a wealth of trophies at club and international level.
The four-time Africa Cup of Nations champion had not yet featured on the game’s greatest stage, however. Russia 2018 marked Egypt’s first World Cup qualification since 1990 and El Hadary revealed how his hunger to grace the global showpiece had kept his competitive fires burning.
“Setting targets is very important in my life,” El Hadary, then aged 45, told The Guardian ahead of the competition. “Maybe I could have said, ‘That’s enough’ if I had participated at a previous World Cup – but I felt there was something missing without a World Cup appearance.”
Making that appearance would etch El Hadary name into the tournament’s history books. Another goalkeeper, Colombia’s Faryd Mondragon, had previously had the distinction of being the World Cup’s oldest player, having competed at Brazil 2014 three days after his 43rd birthday.
Even after El Hadary was named in Egypt’s Russia 2018 squad, it appeared as though the South American may hold on to that record. Egypt’s opening two World Cup games came and went with the Al Ahly legend an unused substitute – he watched from the bench as the Pharaohs were edged out 1-0 by Uruguay and then beaten by 3-1 by the host nation.
El Hadary would have his moment, however. Named in the starting line-up for his nation’s final group match against Saudi Arabia, he surpassed Mondragon and became the oldest player ever to feature at the World Cup.
Aged 45 years and 161 days, the man nicknamed ‘The High Dam’ – after Egypt’s Aswan Dam – rose to the occasion at Volgograd Arena. While the Pharaohs were beaten 2-1, their evergreen keeper produced a spectacular first-half penalty stop from Fahad Al Muwallad, becoming the first African to save a spot-kick at the finals.
“Many predicted I’d get on for the last few minutes of a match, but I wanted to start one,” said El Hadary, whose gloves from the Saudi Arabia game were later displayed at FIFA Museum in Zurich.
“I was mentally focused and wanted to prove that I was there on merit and not because of some special favour from the coach. After the Saudi game kicked off, there wasn’t a sense of ‘mission accomplished’ because my ambition that day, just as it was right throughout my career, was to perform to my best. I was proud to become the oldest player to take part in the World Cup and the first African goalkeeper in the history of the tournament to save a penalty.”
