Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- Lionel Messi has become the World Cup's all-time leader in assists with 12, surpassing previous records.
- At 39 years old, Messi has achieved this milestone while also holding records for most goals and appearances in World Cup history as well.
- Messi has created goals for 11 different teammates across six tournaments.
Even at 39 years old, this has been Lionel Messi's World Cup, and it could be Messi's World Cup trophy once again too. Across seven matches this summer, he has scored eight goals and racked up 12 assists for good measure, bagging a hat-trick against Algeria on match day one, and never really looking back.
He is now the World Cup's all-time leading scorer with 21 goals, shattering Mirosłav Klose's previous record of 16. (Albeit Kylian Mbappé has done so too, just one behind.) Argentina's semifinal win against England on Tuesday was Messi's 33rd outing at the World Cup, also the record, ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo (27) and Lothar Matthäus (25). Now, he has the clean sweep: He is the record holder for appearances, goals and assists with 12. But that last number is more remarkable than it appears.
World Cup players with most assists in history
Players | Nation | World Cup career | Total assists |
|---|---|---|---|
Lionel Messi | Argentina | 2006-present | 12 |
Diego Maradona | Argentina | 1982-1994 | 8 |
Pierre Littbarski | West Germany | 1982-1990 | 7 |
Grzegorz Lato | Poland | 1974-1982 | 7 |
Note: Statistics courtesy of Opta; only includes statistics from 1966 onwards.
These records underline Messi's greatness. He stands above all else when it comes to longevity, goal-scoring and also creating, the greatest of all-time in every respect, apart from maybe taking penalties. There is though something astonishing about his 12 World Cup assists. This is the fact that they have all created goals scored by 11 different Argentine teammates.
Lionel Messi's 12 World Cup assists
Year | Match | Teammate assisted |
|---|---|---|
2006 | 6-0 win vs. Serbia & Montenegro | Hernán Crespo |
2010 | 3-1 win vs. Mexico | Carlos Tévez |
2014 | 1-0 win vs. Switzerland | Ángel Di María |
2018 | 4-3 loss vs. France | Gabriel Mercado |
2018 | 4-3 loss vs. France | Sergio Agüero |
2022 | 2-0 win vs. Mexico | Enzo Fernández |
2022 | 2-2 draw vs. Netherlands | Nahuel Molina |
2022 | 3-0 win vs. Croatia | Julián Álvarez |
2026 | 3-2 win vs. Egypt | Cristian Romero |
2026 | 3-1 win vs. Switzerland | Alexis Mac Allister |
2026 | 2-1 win vs. England | Enzo Fernández |
2026 | 2-1 win vs. England | Lautaro Martínez |
Messi has recorded at least one assist at all six World Cups he has featured at, 11 of 12 of them to different players.
That is what makes the record so remarkable. Messi has not built his World Cup assist total by repeatedly feeding one familiar strike partner; he has created goals for 11 different teammates across six tournaments and three distinct generations of Argentina teams. The names around him have changed, the plays have evolved and nearly two decades have passed, but Messi has remained the constant source of invention.
On Wednesday in Atlanta, he did something for the very first time though, and that was face England. Across 205 international caps, the great man has come up against 58 different national teams, scoring against 45 of them, but never England. This is a major outlier. Of the 20 teams to play the most World Cup matches, England is the only side he has never met.
After their win Tuesday, Messi will play against Spain in the final at MetLife on Sunday.
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