UPDATED: Ex-Peterborough United players at the World Cup Finals - a London Road loan flop, two top performers, one one modest striker and two Aussies!

He will be the first serving Posh player to appear at the Finals. Indeed only six former Posh players have gone on to play on the biggest of all stages.

Most famously goalkeeper David Seaman played for England at the 1998 (France) and 2002 (Japan and South Korea) World Cup Finals. Posh had given the Arsenal legend his first senior professional appearances after taking him from Leeds United at the start of the 1982-83 season. Seaman made just over 100 appearances for Posh and went on to win 75 England caps.

Posh loan flop Danny Rose played for England at the 2018 World Cup in Russia under Gareth Southgate’s management. He was a controversial pick having played just 10 times for Spurs in the Premier League that season. Rose was at Spurs when he came to Posh on loan during the 2009-10 Championship season. He played, badly, 6 times before leaving London Road.

Rose played 5 times for England at the World Cup Finals, including a brief appearance in the 2-1 semi-final defeat at the hands of Croatia. He won 29 caps in total.

Central defender Gary Breen was at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan with Ireland and scored in a 3-0 win over Saudi Arabia. Breen moved to Posh from Gillingham in 1994 and played for Ireland Under 21s while at London Road. He made his full Ireland debut in 1996 after he’d left Posh for Barry Fry’s Birmingham City. Breen went on to win 63 Ireland caps and scored seven goals.

And striker Colin Clarke, a modest performer at Posh, played in the 1986 World Cup Finals in Mexico and scored in a 2-1 defeat by Spain. Clarke was with Third Division Bournemouth when travelling to Mexico. Clarke won 38 international caps and his 13 goals was a national record for a time.

But the first former Posh player to appear at a World Cup Finals is the least well known. Midfielder Jimmy Rooney appeared for Australia in the 1974 World Cup in West Germany, seven years after he'd played the last of his seven games for Posh.

Rooney was actually Scottish when he moved to London Road from amateur side Lochee Harp in 1965. He didn’t make his debut for Posh until the following year and went on to score twice before leaving for Montrose from where he emigrated to Australia in 1968.

Rooney starred for several clubs in the Australian League and won his first cap for his adopted country before winning selection to the Socceroos World Cup squad. Rooney went on to win 100 caps for Australia and is a bonafide legend Down Under. A 'Jimmy Rooney Medal' is awarded to the man of the match in the Australian Victorian Premier League Grand Final.

Rooney shared a pitch with world greats Gerhard Muller and Franz Beckenbauer in a 3-0 defeat at the hands of the host nation. They also lost to East Germany and Chile.

And another ex-Posh man appeared for Australia 48 years later as Jason Cummings took part in the last World Cup of 2022 in Qatar. Cummings was on loan at Posh from Nottingham Forest in the first-half of the 2018-19 season. He started well with 6 goals in his first 6 appearances, but faded thereafter.