Lionel Messi becomes the World Cup's all-time leading scorer

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·23 June 2026

Lionel Messi becomes the World Cup's all-time leading scorer

Lionel Messi has officially become the World Cup’s all-time leading scorer with 18 goals, surpassing Miroslav Klose’s 16, a mark that had stood since 2014.

According to L'Équipe, he opened this tournament with a hat-trick in a 3-0 win over Algeria, then added two in Monday’s 2-0 victory against Austria to set the record, giving him five so far.

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This is his sixth World Cup. His best single-edition return came in Qatar in 2022 with seven goals. He turns 39 on Wednesday.

He scored his first World Cup goal aged 18 years and 357 days on 16 June 2006 in Argentina’s 6-0 win over Serbia and Montenegro.

He did not score in 2010, and despite this prolific start he remains well short of Just Fontaine’s single-tournament benchmark of 13 in 1958, achieved in only six matches.

Source: L'Équipe