Lionel Messi's World Cup Records and Achievements: Full List

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Lionel Messi has added more milestones to his remarkable World Cup career, setting new records after another impressive performance for Argentina at the 2026 tournament.

The Argentina captain scored twice in a 2-0 victory over Austria after initially missing a penalty, taking his total World Cup goals to 18. The tally made Messi the tournament’s all-time leading scorer, surpassing Germany striker Miroslav Klose’s previous record of 16 goals.

Klose set his record across four World Cup appearances, with his final tournament coming in 2014 when Germany won the title in Brazil.

According to FIFA, Messi’s achievements at the World Cup extend far beyond his goal-scoring record. The forward has collected numerous individual milestones throughout his career on football’s biggest stage.

Messi’s World Cup Records

• All-time leading World Cup scorer: Messi has scored 18 goals, surpassing Miroslav Klose’s previous record of 16.

• Most World Cup wins: Messi has recorded 18 World Cup victories without penalty shootouts, overtaking Klose’s previous mark of 17.

• Scored in six consecutive World Cup matches: Messi became the third player to achieve the feat, joining France’s Just Fontaine and Brazil’s Jairzinho.

• Most World Cup Player of the Match awards: Messi has received the honor 13 times.

• Oldest player to score a World Cup hat-trick: Messi became the oldest player to score a hat-trick in World Cup history at 38 years and 357 days old. He surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo’s previous record, set when the Portugal forward scored a hat-trick against Spain at the 2018 World Cup at 33 years and 130 days.

• Scored across three different age decades: Messi is the only player to score at the World Cup as a teenager, in his 20s, and in his 30s.

• Longest gap between first and last World Cup goals: Messi’s World Cup goals span 20 years and six days.

• Scored in five different World Cup editions: Messi shares the record with Cristiano Ronaldo as the only players to score in five separate World Cups.

• Most World Cup appearances: Messi has featured in six editions of the tournament, matching the record for the most World Cup appearances.

Argentina and South American Records

Messi is also Argentina’s all-time leading World Cup scorer with 18 goals, ahead of legendary names such as Gabriel Batistuta (10), Diego Maradona (8), Guillermo Stabile (8), Mario Kempes (6), and Gonzalo Higuain (5).

He is also the highest-scoring South American player in World Cup history, surpassing Brazil legend Ronaldo Nazario, who scored 15 goals.

Messi holds the record for most goals scored from outside the penalty area at the World Cup, with six. The previous record belonged to Brazil’s Rivellino, who scored five.

Records Beyond Goals

Messi has also set records in appearances and contributions. He holds the record for most World Cup matches played with 28 appearances, surpassing Germany’s Lothar Matthaus, who previously held the record with 25 matches.

He is also the player with the most World Cup minutes played, totaling 2,494 minutes, after breaking Italy legend Paolo Maldini’s previous record of 2,217 minutes in the 2022 World Cup final.

Other records include:

• The only player to provide assists in five different World Cup editions.

• Joint-record holder with Pele for most knockout-stage assists in World Cup history, with six.

• The player with the most goal contributions in World Cup history, with 26 contributions (18 goals and eight assists).

• Among the top dribblers in a single World Cup edition, with 46 successful dribbles in Brazil 2014, behind only Jairzinho (47) and Diego Maradona (53).

• The only player to score in every stage of a single World Cup tournament: group stage, round of 16, quarterfinal, semifinal, and final.

• The only player to win the FIFA World Cup Golden Ball award more than once, achieving the honor at Brazil 2014 and Qatar 2022.

With his collection of records, Messi has cemented his status as one of the most influential players in World Cup history.

Read: Messi on Missed Penalty vs. Austria: 'Maybe I Wouldn't Have Scored More'

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