Essam El Hadary
International career
International career
--------------------

El Hadary represented [Egypt](/wiki/Egypt_national_football_team "Egypt national football team") a total of 159 times from his debut in 1996 until his retirement in 2018\. He won the [African Cup of Nations](/wiki/African_Cup_of_Nations "African Cup of Nations") four times with his country. He was chosen as the best goalkeeper in the 2006 African Cup of Nations, held in homeland Egypt, in the [2008 African Cup of Nations](/wiki/2008_African_Cup_of_Nations "2008 African Cup of Nations"), held in Ghana and for the [2010 African Cup of Nations](/wiki/2010_African_Cup_of_Nations "2010 African Cup of Nations"), held in Angola.

In January 2013, his agent [tweeted](/wiki/Tweeted "Tweeted") that El Hadary had retired from international football after being benched for a run of games, being the 23rd most capped international player in history and also the player with most African Cup of Nations titles. He returned to the national team in a match against [Bosnia Herzegovina](/wiki/Bosnia_and_Herzegovina_national_football_team "Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team") on 5 March 2014, winning 2–0\.

[thumb\|right\|El Hadary saving a penalty shot from Saudi Arabia's [Fahad Al\-Muwallad](/wiki/Fahad_Al-Muwallad "Fahad Al-Muwallad") at the [2018 FIFA World Cup](/wiki/2018_FIFA_World_Cup "2018 FIFA World Cup")](/wiki/File:KSA-EGY_%289%29.jpg "KSA-EGY (9).jpg")
On 4 June 2016, El Hadary played the full 90 minutes in a 2–0 win against [Tanzania](/wiki/Tanzania_Football_Federation "Tanzania Football Federation") which secured Egypt's qualification for [2017 Africa Cup of Nations](/wiki/2017_Africa_Cup_of_Nations "2017 Africa Cup of Nations"). On 17 January 2017, two days after his 44th birthday, he became the oldest player to ever appear in an [Africa Cup of Nations](/wiki/Africa_Cup_of_Nations "Africa Cup of Nations") match after replacing [Ahmed El\-Shenawy](/wiki/Ahmed_El-Shenawy "Ahmed El-Shenawy") in Egypt's first match of the tournament then on 5 February 2017 on a final match of the tournament against [Cameroon](/wiki/Cameroon_Football_Federation "Cameroon Football Federation") he was then 44 years and 21 days.
On 1 February 2017, El Hadary saved two penalties as Egypt defeated [Burkina Faso](/wiki/Burkina_Faso_national_football_team "Burkina Faso national football team") 4–3 in a penalty shoot\-out to advance to the [2017 Africa Cup of Nations Final](/wiki/2017_Africa_Cup_of_Nations_Final "2017 Africa Cup of Nations Final").

In June 2018, at the age of 45, he was named in Egypt's 23\-man squad for the [2018 FIFA World Cup](/wiki/2018_FIFA_World_Cup "2018 FIFA World Cup") in Russia. He was the oldest of all players selected for the tournament, beating the record by Colombian goalkeeper [Faryd Mondragón](/wiki/Faryd_Mondrag%C3%B3n "Faryd Mondragón") in the previous edition of the tournament. On 25 June, El Hadary was handed a start in Egypt's final group match against [Saudi Arabia](/wiki/Saudi_Arabia_national_football_team "Saudi Arabia national football team") to become the oldest player ever to play in and debut at a [World Cup](/wiki/FIFA_World_Cup "FIFA World Cup") at the age of 45 years and 161 days, once again breaking Mondragón's record of 43 years and three days. El Hadary stopped a penalty kick in the first half of the match, but subsequently conceded from a second penalty just before half time; his team eventually lost the game 2–1 after conceding a goal in stoppage time.

On 7 August 2018, El Hadary announced his international retirement at the age of 45\. In November 2019, the [FIFA World Football Museum](/wiki/FIFA_World_Football_Museum "FIFA World Football Museum") exhibited El Hadary's gloves of his World Cup match for being the tournament's oldest player and the first African goalkeeper ever to save a penalty.


What are some other instances where an Egyptian player has been named in the 23-man squad for a FIFA World Cup?