Lionel Messi has just officially parted ways with the Argentine national team, after 207 appearances and scoring 125 goals. Throughout his career spanning more than 20 years with the Argentine national team, Messi has set countless records, especially in the World Cup arena, according to FIFA.
Lionel Messi once held the record for the most goalscorer of all time at the FIFA World Cup with 21 goals, surpassing Miroslav Klose's previous record with 16 goals. However, he was surpassed by Kylian Mbappe of France, when Mbappe scored a double in the third-place match against England, raising his total goals to 22, 1 goal more than Messi.
Messi is also the player with the most wins in the World Cup with 23 matches, surpassing Klose's previous record of 17 matches.
With 9 goals in consecutive matches at the world's biggest tournament, Messi has surpassed Just Fontaine and Jairzinho, who before the 2026 tournament were the only players to score in 6 consecutive World Cup matches.
At the age of 38 years and 357 days, Messi became the oldest player to score a hat-trick in World Cup history in the match against Algeria. The previous record holder was Cristiano Ronaldo, who was 33 years and 130 days old when scoring a hat-trick against Spain in 2018.
Messi is Argentina's number one scorer at the World Cup. Following him are Gabriel Batistuta (10 goals), Diego Maradona (8), Guillermo Stabile (8), Mario Kempes (6) and Gonzalo Higuain (5).
Messi also surpassed Brazilian legend Rivellino in the number of goals scored outside the penalty area (7 goals), including 3 goals he scored at the 2026 World Cup.
Messi and Ronaldo both hold the record for participating in six different tournaments. Previously, this record was shared between them with Antonio Carbajal, Lothar Matthaus, Rafa Marquez and Andres Guardado.
Messi holds the record for the most successful dribbles in World Cup history. His 46 successful dribbles at Brazil 2014 are the third highest number in a World Cup. Jairzinho made 47 successful dribbles in Mexico 1970, while Maradona achieved 53 at Mexico 1986.
Messi made his 26th appearance for the national team at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, breaking Matthaus's record. Becoming the first to reach 30 appearances in this tournament is the latest milestone he achieved in the 32nd round victory over Cabo Verde, and his total number of appearances after the 2026 tournament is 34 matches.
Messi has set a record of 27 appearances as captain at the World Cup. Following him are Rafa Marquez (17) and Diego Maradona (16).
El Pulga (Messi's nickname) also played the most minutes in World Cup history: 3,064 minutes. He broke Paolo Maldini's record of 2,217 minutes in the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar.
Messi is the only player to have assists in six World Cups. His closest competitors are Pele, Grzegorz Lato, Diego Maradona and David Beckham, each of whom has assists in 3 World Cups.
Messi is the only player to score in the group stage, round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals of a World Cup, achieving that feat at the 2022 tournament.
Messi is the only player to score at the World Cup in his teenage years, 20 and 30. He scored his first goal and the last goal at the World Cup 20 years and 21 days apart - another record. The second longest time in World Cup history belongs to Cristiano Ronaldo with 16 years and 165 days.
The World Cup Player of the Match award, first awarded in 2002, has belonged to Messi 16 times, an unprecedented record. He has won this award five times at the 2026 World Cup, surpassing his four-time record at Brazil 2014, a record he shared with Wesley Sneijder, who received a similar award in South Africa 2010.
Messi is the only player to win two Adidas Golden Balls, which were at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
