Will the wait end this year, or will it continue? It has been 20 years since a player last scored a World Cup goal on their birthday. The last player to do so was Frenchman Patrick Vieira, who scored France’s opening goal in a 2–0 win over Togo on June 23 during the 2006 Fifa World Cup.
The former France captain is one of six players to have scored a World Cup goal on their birthday. The others are Englishman Roger Hunt (1966), Bulgarian Dinko Dermendzhiev (1970), Frenchman Michel Platini (1982 and 1986), Italian Aldo Serena (1990) and German Miroslav Klose (2006).
Egypt's Mohamed Salah in action against Belgium's Amadou Onana during their Group G 2026 World Cup match at Seattle Stadium, Seattle, Washington, in the US, on June 15, 2026.
Photo credit: Reuters
There was hope that Egyptian player Mohamed Salah would add to this list when he captained the Pharaohs against the Belgian Red Devils on June 15. However, the match ended 1–1, and Salah became only the seventh player to provide an assist for a World Cup goal on their birthday. He set up Omar Ashour’s opener for Egypt, and became the sixth player to captain his team at a FIFA World Cup on his birthday.
The other players to have assisted a World Cup goal on their birthday are Platini (1986), Serena (1990), Klose (2006), Vieira (2006), the Argentinian Juan Román Riquelme (2006) and the Swede Nils Ola Toivonen (2018).
Others who captained their team on their birthday at the Fifa World Cup are Mexican Antonio Carbajal (1962), Platini (1982 and 1986), German Oliver Kahn (2002), Vieira (2002 and 2006) and Spaniard Raúl González (2006).
In total, there have been 53 instances of footballers playing in a FIFA World Cup match on their birthday.
This World Cup has already seen two: Canadian Jonathan Osorio on June 12 against Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Salah.
Three more players – Englishman Jordan Henderson (June 17), Senegalese Mory Diaw (June 22), and the Uzbek Botirali Ergashev (June 23) – can add to the list during the group stages.
There are 150 players at the 2026 Fifa World Cup whose birthdays fall during the tournament. The last World Cup held in Qatar 2022 had 48 such players.
Switzerland's Manuel Akanji (right) in action with Qatar's Akram Afif during their Group B 2026 World Cup match at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium, Santa Clara, California, US on June 13, 2026.
Photo credit: Reuters
Out of those 150 players this year, only three have a chance of playing the World Cup final on their birthday. The three are Ivorian midfielder Jean Michaël Seri, Swiss defender Manuel Akanji, and German forward Denis Undav. The trio were born on July 19 in 1991, 1995, and 1996 respectively.
So far, only one player – German Jurgen Grabowski – has been lucky enough to play and win a Fifa World Cup final on their birthday. Grabowski was celebrating his 30th birthday when West Germany came from behind to defeat the Netherlands 2-1 on July 7, 1974 during the final of the year’s World Cup.
Only Dutch defender Andre Ooijer, who was born four days after the 1974 Fifa World Cup final, has come close to emulating Grabowski. Ooijer was an unused substitute on July 11, 2010, when the Netherlands lost 1-0 to Spain in that year’s World Cup final.
Still, there are players who do not have fond memories of playing a World Cup match on their birthday. Fifteen players have a lost a Fifa World Cup match played on their birthday. Some like German Josef Posipal (8-3 vs Hungary in 1954), Northern Irishman Pat Jennings (3-0 vs Brazil in 1986), Swiss Adrian Knup (3-0 vs Spain in 1994), Moroccan Tahar El-Khalej (3-0 vs Brazil in 1998), and Greek Konstantinos Manolas (3-0 vs Colombia in 2014) suffered heavy losses.
Some like Italian Gianfranco Zola (2-1 win against Nigeria in 1994) were fortunate to see their team win despite being sent off on their birthday. The former Chelsea star is the only player to receive a red card on his birthday at the World Cup.
In 1996, Argentine Antonio Roma became the first and only player so far to score an own goal on his birthday at the Fifa World Cup when his team defeated Spain 2-1.
