Craig Gordon

Craig Gordon is Scotland's starting goalkeeper at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and at 43 years and 162 days old at kickoff he is the oldest player in the tournament — older than Cristiano Ronaldo (41) and making history as the oldest keeper ever to feature at a World Cup. He kept a clean sheet in Scotland's 4-0 warm-up win over Bolivia on 6 June 2026, with Steve Clarke reporting no injuries from the squad ahead of the tournament.

Born 31 December 1982 in Kirkcaldy, Gordon began his career at Heart of Midlothian before joining Sunderland in 2007 and Celtic in 2014. He returned to Hearts in 2020 and has been Scotland's first choice since 2021. His career has been shaped by a serious wrist injury sustained in 2012 that kept him out for nearly two years, but he recovered to become Scotland's most dependable keeper of his generation. He made his Scotland debut in 2004 and has accumulated 65 caps.

Gordon's presence at this World Cup — Scotland's first since France 1998 — carries considerable symbolic weight. The 25-year age gap between Gordon and Mexico's 17-year-old Gilberto Mora illustrates the exceptional breadth of the oldest World Cup field on record.