▲ Curacao national team head coach Dick Advocaat
The record for the oldest head coach at the 2026 FIFA World Cup has changed three times in just four days.
As Curacao, a small Caribbean island nation and constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, played its first Group E match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup on June 15 (KST), its head coach, Dick Advocaat, became the oldest manager in the history of the tournament.
The 78-year-old Dutch veteran had stepped down from his position in February to care for his daughter, who was in poor health, but made a surprise return to the team in May, setting the stage to become the oldest coach in World Cup history.
According to Yahoo Sports, the title of the oldest coach has changed hands three times in the four days since the World Cup kicked off on June 12.
Until the start of this tournament, the record was held by Otto Rehhagel, the German coach who led Greece at the 2010 South Africa World Cup at the age of 71.
That record was first broken by Hugo Broos (Belgium), the head coach of South Africa in Group A.
Born in April 1952, Broos was 74 years old when he faced Mexico on June 12.
Miroslav Koubek, the head coach of the Czech Republic, broke Broos' record just five hours later.
Koubek, who managed the match against South Korea, was born in September 1951 and will turn 75 in three months.
Advocaat, born in 1947, surpassed Koubek's record three days later.
There are no other coaches in this tournament who will surpass his age.
Advocaat, who led the Netherlands to the quarterfinals of the 1994 World Cup in the United States and managed the South Korean national team at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, is now participating in his third World Cup as a head coach.
Curacao suffered a 1-7 defeat against Germany in its first Group E match.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.