{"id":575,"date":"2026-07-19T22:59:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T22:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goalsodds.com\/?p=575"},"modified":"2026-07-19T22:59:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T22:59:03","slug":"messi-becomes-second-oldest-player-to-play-in-a-world-cup-final-at-39-years-25-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goalsodds.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/19\/messi-becomes-second-oldest-player-to-play-in-a-world-cup-final-at-39-years-25-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Messi becomes second-oldest player to play in a World Cup final at 39 years &amp; 25 days"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, Argentina faced Spain, and Messi started, becoming the second-oldest player to play in a FIFA World Cup final in the tournament&#8217;s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"808\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/goalsodds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1000107896-808x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-577\" srcset=\"https:\/\/goalsodds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1000107896-808x1024.jpg 808w, https:\/\/goalsodds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1000107896-237x300.jpg 237w, https:\/\/goalsodds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1000107896-768x973.jpg 768w, https:\/\/goalsodds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1000107896.jpg 947w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 808px) 100vw, 808px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this match against Spain, Messi started, marking his third FIFA World Cup final appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Statistically, Messi, at 39 years and 25 days old, became the second-oldest player to appear in a FIFA World Cup final, trailing only Italian legendary goalkeeper Dino Zoff (40 years and 133 days, 1982 FIFA World Cup).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Therefore, Messi is also the oldest non-goalkeeper player to play in a FIFA World Cup final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/reffpa.com\/L?tag=d_4420894m_1599c_&amp;site=4420894&amp;ad=1599\">https:\/\/reffpa.com\/L?tag=d_4420894m_1599c_&amp;site=4420894&amp;ad=1599<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, Argentina faced Spain, and Messi started, becoming the second-oldest player to play in a FIFA World Cup final in the tournament&#8217;s history. In this match against Spain, Messi started, marking his third FIFA World Cup final appearance. Statistically, Messi, at 39 years and 25 days old, became the &#8230; <a title=\"Messi becomes second-oldest player to play in a World Cup final at 39 years &amp; 25 days\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/goalsodds.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/19\/messi-becomes-second-oldest-player-to-play-in-a-world-cup-final-at-39-years-25-days\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Messi becomes second-oldest player to play in a World Cup final at 39 years &amp; 25 days\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goalsodds.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goalsodds.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goalsodds.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goalsodds.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goalsodds.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/goalsodds.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":578,"href":"https:\/\/goalsodds.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575\/revisions\/578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goalsodds.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goalsodds.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goalsodds.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}