Lionel Messi kicks his way into the Fifa history books
Lionel Messi entered his name in the history books on Tuesday July 7, by becoming the first player to score eight goals in a FIFA Men’s World Cup .
The 39-year-old, who scored seven goals in seven matches for Argentina during the 2022 FIFA World Cup, moved his tally to eight goal in the 2026 edition, when he netted in the 83rd minute to help Argentina dispatch Egypt 3-2 and book a spot in the quaterfinal of the 2026 edition.
A total of six players have scored at least five goals in multiple FIFA World Cup editions, but Messi is the only one to have scored eight goals in one edition.
Messi who has 21 FIFA World Cup goals in total, is followed by Kylian Mbappé on the list of players with total goals 19 across 3 FIFA World Cup editions (2028, 2022 and 2026).
| PLAYER | COUNTRY | EDITION (GOALS) | EDITION (GOALS) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teófilo Cubillas | Peru | 1970 (5) | 1978 (5) |
| Miroslav Klose | Germany | 2002 (5) | 2006 (5) |
| Thomas Muller | Germany | 2010 (5) | 2014 (5) |
| Lionel Messi | Argentina | 2022 (7) | 2026 (8) |
| Kylian Mbappe | France | 2022 (8) | 2026 (7) |
| Harry Kane | England | 2018 (6) | 2026 (6) |
Messi, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, scored one goal each at the 2006 and 2018 FIFA World Cups for Argentina and four goals in the 2014 edition. He has now scored seven goals at the 2022 and eight at the 2026 FIFA World Cups, taking his overall World Cup tally to 21 goals.
Lionel Messi at FIFA World Cup (performance tournament wise)
| EDITION | HOST COUNTRY | GOALS | AGAINST |
| 2006 | Germany | 1 | Serbia and Montenegro (1) |
| 2010 | South Africa | 0 | – |
| 2014 | Brazil | 4 | Bosnia and Herzegovina (1), Iran (1), Nigeria (2) |
| 2018 | Russia | 1 | Nigeria (1) |
| 2022 | Qatar | 7 | Saudi Arabia (1), Mexico (1), Australia (1), Netherlands (1), Croatia (1), France (2) |
| 2026 | USA, Argentina, Canada | 8 | Algeria (3), Austria (2), Jordan (1), Cape Verde (1) Egypt (1) |
Messi’s goal against Cape Verde also helped him break Pelé’s record for the most goal contributions in FIFA World Cup knockout matches. Messi has scored six goals and provided six assists in World Cup knockout fixtures. On the other hand, Pelé was directly involved in 11 goals for Brazil in FIFA World Cup knockout matches, scoring eight times and registering three assists.
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