Lionel Messi has written a new chapter of football history at 38 years and 363 days old, becoming the all-time leading goalscorer at the FIFA Men’s World Cup.
The Argentine captain broke Miroslav Klose’s 12-year record by scoring his 17th World Cup goal, before adding an 18th to seal a 2-0 victory for Argentina against Austria in Group J play at Dallas Stadium.
The record-breaking opener came in the 38th minute, when Messi swept home to deafening roars from the crowd in Arlington, Texas.
The history-making goals could have arrived even sooner, but Messi missed a ninth-minute penalty kick before finding redemption 29 minutes later, taking advantage of a clever dummy from Thiago Almada to give Argentina the lead just before halftime.
He then extended his record in the waning seconds of injury time, sending a shot through several defenders after the Austrian goalkeeper turned away his first attempt.
The brace brings Messi’s 2026 tournament tally to five goals , all of Argentina’s goals in the competition so far with his campaign having begun with a hat-trick in a first-round victory over Algeria.
Beyond surpassing Klose, Messi also broke the overall World Cup scoring record previously held by Brazil women’s legend Marta, who had scored 17 goals, making him the greatest World Cup goalscorer of all time, male or female.
Messi now has 18 goals and 8 assists across 28 World Cup appearances, and he is tied with Diego Maradona for the most World Cup assists of all time, as he looks to guide Argentina to the first back-to-back World Cup titles since Brazil in 1958 and 1962.
Although Messi holds the record for now, French captain Kylian Mbappé currently on 14 World Cup goals remains the only player who could challenge it during this tournament.
