When Messi and Ronaldo could face off at the 2026 World Cup | OneFootball

The draw for the 2026 World Cup has been made, and Lionel Messi‘s Argentina and Cristiano Ronaldo‘s Portugal can start plotting their routes to glory.

Messi and Ronaldo are set to become the first players to feature in six World Cups in North America next summer.

The two era-defining rivals made their World Cup debuts as youngsters way back in 2006 and have since featured in every edition of FIFA’s flagship tournament.

While Ronaldo has won the European Championship and two Nations Leagues, he’s only ever known World Cup heartbreak. In fact, he’s famously failed to score or assist in the World Cup knockout stages.

Portugal made it as far as the World Cup semis in Ronaldo’s first tournament as a 21-year-old, Germany 2006, but since then it’s been disappointment after disappointment. They went out in the Round of 16 in 2010 and 2018, bookending group stage humiliation in Brazil in 2014.

They did make it as far as the quarters last time out, but Ronaldo found himself benched for the knockout stages. As a substitute, he was unable to inspire them to come back from behind in a shock defeat to surprise package Morocco.

Messi, meanwhile, knew little but suffering for the first 16 years of his senior international career. Argentina lost three Copa America finals, and one World Cup final, before their captain finally got his hands on a trophy.

But it’s been joy after joy since the 2021 Copa America. They retained the trophy three years later, having lifted the World Cup in Qatar 2022.

The 38-year-old, eight-time Ballon d’Or has not confirmed he’ll definitely be there to lead Argentina as they look to retain their World Cup next summer, but he’ll surely be there if fit and available.

Messi and Ronaldo have only faced one another twice on the international stage, but both occasions were friendlies (way back in 2011 and 2014). Portugal and Argentina have never faced off in a competitive fixture in the Messi-Ronaldo era, or indeed their entire histories.

As the two icons prepare for their last dance at the World Cup, will the football gods rustle up the ultimate narrative climax?

We’ve identified every possible scenario in which we could see the ultimate World Cup showdown between Messi and Ronaldo.

Scenario 1

Argentina and Portugal have been drawn into groups J and K, respectively.

Messi’s Argentina have an intriguing group with Austria, Algeria and Jordan.

Ronaldo’s Portugal will face Colombia, Uzbekistan and one more team to be determined from the play-offs.

That means that if both teams top their groups, as they’re the strong favourites to do, that they’d eventually meet in the semi-finals – should they both make it that far, of course.

Argentina would have a Round of 32 match in Miami, a Round of 16 clash in Atlanta and a quarter-final in Kansas City before returning to Atlanta for the semis on July 15th.

Portugal would head to Kansas City, Vancouver and Kansas City again before the potential Atlanta semi.

Scenario 2

We could potentially have a Messi vs Ronaldo face-off as early as the Round of 16 if neither side win their group.

If Argentina and Portugal both finish as runners-up, they’d be destined to meet in the Round of 16 on July 6th in Dallas – providing that they each win their Round of 32 in Los Angeles and Kansas City, respectively.

Scenario 3

There is also, of course, the possibility of a showpiece Messi vs Ronaldo World Cup final.

Argentina and Portugal would be placed into the opposite brackets of the knockout stages, kept apart until the New Jersey final on July 19th, should Argentina top their group and Portugal finish runners-up (or vice versa).

Scenario 4

The expanded schedule also allows some third-place teams to qualify.

In all honesty, should either Argentina or Portugal end up in third place things get far too complicated to start mapping routes and making predictions.

But in our very early working out, they could potentially face off in a Round of 32 in Atlanta if both Argentina and Portugal finish third. You can probably write off that scenario happening, though.