Bosnia's Dzeko to join list of World Cup 40-year-olds

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Dzeko currently plays for Schalke in Germany's second tier

Published31 minutes ago

Former Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko is set to join an exclusive list of players aged 40 or over to play at a World Cup after being picked in Bosnia-Herzegovina's squad for this summer's tournament.

Cameroon forward Roger Milla is the only outfield player to have played at a World Cup after his 40th birthday, having appeared at and scored at the 1994 tournament.

There have also been six goalkeepers - Egypt's Essam el Hadary, who was 45 at the 2018 World Cup, Colombia's Faryd Mondragon, Northern Ireland's Pat Jennings, England's Peter Shilton, Italy's Dino Zoff and Tunisia's Ali Boumnijel.

Luka Modric, 40, and Cristiano Ronaldo, 41, are also expected to feature for Croatia and Portugal respectively this summer.

Dzeko, who has 148 caps, played in seven of his country's eight matches in Group H of qualifying and also in the semi-final and final of their progression through the play-offs.

He scored his 73rd international goal in the semi-final win against Wales.

Bosnia are the first team to name their 26-man squad for the 2026 World Cup, which will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Bosnia, playing at a World Cup for only the second time, are in Group B with Canada, Qatar and Switzerland.

Bosnia in full:

Goalkeepers: Nikola Vasilj (St Pauli), Martin Zlomislic (Rijeka), Osman Hadzikic (Slaven Belupo)

Defenders: Sead Kolasinac (Atalanta), Amar Dedic (Benfica), Nihad Mujakic (Gaziantep), Nikola Katic (Schalke 04), Tarik Muharemovic (Sassuolo), Stjepan Radeljic (Rijeka), Dennis Hadzikadunic (Sampdoria), Nidal Celik (Lens)

Midfielders: Amir Hadziahmetovic (Hull City), Ivan Sunjic (Pafos), Ivan Basic (Astana), Dzenis Burnic (Karlsruher SC), Ermin Mahmic (Slovan Liberec), Benjamin Tahirovic (Brondby), Amar Memic (Viktoria Plzen), Armin Gigovic (Young Boys), Kerim Alajbegovic (RB Salzburg), Esmir Bajraktarevic (PSV Eindhoven)

Forwards: Ermedin Demirovic (VfB Stuttgart), Jovo Lukic (Universitatea Cluj), Samed Bazdar (Jagiellonia Bialystok), Haris Tabakovic (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Edin Dzeko (Schalke 04)