Lionel Messi is on top of the world, and he’s looking to stay there.
The soccer legend added an elusive World Cup title to his résumé four years ago. He scored a brace in Argentina’s penalty-shootout win over France in the 2022 final, leading the country to its first World Cup crown since 1986.
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While Messi could’ve ended his international career after the 2022 World Cup triumph, he is back for more. The 38-year-old will lead La Albiceleste into North America for the 2026 World Cup as the team looks to become the first repeat champion in more than 60 years.
With Messi officially returning for his sixth World Cup, here’s a look at his career stats in the quadrennial tournament over the last 20 years.
How many career World Cup caps does Lionel Messi have?
Messi set the record for most individual World Cup caps in the 2022 final.
The final against France was Messi’s 26th career World Cup match, breaking a tie with Germany’s Lothar Matthäus atop the all-time leaderboard. He also passed Italy’s Paolo Maldini for the most World Cup minutes played.
How many career World Cup goals does Lionel Messi have?
Messi has scored 13 World Cup goals in his career.
His first World Cup tally came in the 2006 group stage against Serbia and Montenegro. After going goal-less in 2010, he scored four times at the 2014 tournament. Each of those tallies came in the group stage, as he was unable to find the back of the net in Argentina’s last four matches in Brazil. He got his next World Cup goal in 2018 with a strike against Saudi Arabia in group play.
After scoring six goals in his first four tournaments, Messi found the back of the net seven times in Qatar. He scored in six of Argentina’s matches and became the first man to score in the round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and final at the same World Cup. He was especially lethal on penalty kicks, picking up four goals from the spot and getting Argentina on the board to begin a shootout against France in the final.
Messi’s last goal in 2022 put Argentina on the cusp of the title. He got the ball past the goal line in the 108th minute to take a 3-2 lead, but Argentina conceded a penalty kick in the 118th minute that led to the penalty shootout.
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How many career World Cup assists does Lionel Messi have?
On top of his stellar scoring, Messi’s passing precision has also been on display at the World Cup over the years.
Messi logged his first World Cup assist in 2014 and dished out two more in 2018. Like he did with goals, Messi doubled his career assist total in Qatar.
His first assist of 2022 came in Argentina’s Group C match against Mexico and the second came in the quarterfinals against the Netherlands. The third and most spectacular assist came in the semifinals against Croatia, where he dribbled his way around Joško Gvardiol before feeding Julián Álvarez with a perfect pass.
How many World Cup Golden Ball Awards does Lionel Messi have?
Messi was named the best player in two World Cups.
He came away with the 2014 World Cup Golden Ball Award despite Argentina falling to Germany in that year’s final. In 2022, he was the best player on the best team and took home the Golden Ball again.
Messi is the first man to win multiple World Cup Golden Ball Awards.
How many World Cup Golden Boot Awards does Lionel Messi have?
Messi held the Golden Boot lead on two separate occasions during the 2022 final, but his former Paris Saint-Germain teammate wound up winning the award with a hat trick.
Messi entered the final tied with France’s Kylian Mbappé as the tournament goal leader at five goals apiece. He earned the edge over Mbappé by scoring a penalty kick in the 23rd minute against France, but Mbappé took the lead with two second-half goals in a two-minute span. Messi got his second goal of the match in the form of a go-ahead strike in extra time, putting him and Mbappé even at seven apiece. Mbappé kept France alive in the match with a PK goal in the 118th minute, cementing a hat trick and the Golden Boot title.
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