Queiroz sets record with Ghana's victory

Carlos Queiroz became the oldest coach to win a World Cup match after leading Ghana to a dramatic 1-0 victory over Panama, decided by Caleb Yirenkyi's stoppage-time goal. The Portuguese coach achieved the record at 73 years and 108 days, surpassing the previous mark held by Germany's Otto Rehhagel, who was 72 years and 317 days old when he guided Greece to a group stage win at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Interestingly, Queiroz is not the oldest coach at the 2026 tournament — Hugo Broos (South Africa, 74), Miroslav Koubek (Czech Republic, 74) and Dick Advocaat (Curaçao, 78) are all older, but each lost their opening match.

This is Queiroz's fifth consecutive World Cup as a head coach, having led Portugal in 2010 and Iran in 2014, 2018 and 2022 — with the Brazil 2014 edition being the only one in which he failed to win a single match. He took charge of Ghana just two months ago, replacing Otto Addo, who was dismissed despite qualifying the team for the tournament following poor results in warm-up matches.

"First we had to suffer, we fought like warriors. We won the match with intelligence. The first half was painful against a great team. They know how to play and what to do. We knew they would control the game, but step by step, that was our strategy: let them come forward and take control until we scored, because that's how you win. That's always how you win," said Queiroz after the match.