Messi Just Did Something No World Cup Player Has Ever Done Before

Lionel Messi came off the bench Saturday against Jordan, stepped up to a free kick in the 61st minute, and casually pushed a record further out of reach. That goal was his 19th in World Cup play. It also extended his scoring streak to seven consecutive matches — the longest in the tournament’s history.

He had been tied with Just Fontaine and Jairzinho, two legends whose streaks ran through entire tournaments. Fontaine scored in all six games of the 1958 World Cup. Jairzinho matched that across Brazil’s 1970 run. But neither played a seventh match in the same streak. Messi’s started in Qatar, when he scored against Australia, the Netherlands, Croatia and France on the way to the title. He picked it up again this summer with goals against Algeria, Austria and now Jordan in the group stage.

Messi owns the longevity records, too

Saturday was his 29th World Cup appearance. That’s more than anyone else. He also has 19 wins, another mark he holds alone. And he shares with Cristiano Ronaldo the distinction of playing in six different World Cups. (Memo Ochoa was also called up for six, but he didn’t see the field in two of them.)

Before this tournament started, Messi already had the same combined goal-and-assist total as Pelé across World Cups — 21. The King did it in 14 matches across three editions. Messi took 26 games to match it. Then he kept adding.

He entered Saturday with 18 career World Cup goals after netting three against Algeria and two against Austria earlier in the group stage. The free kick against Jordan made it 19. With the knockout rounds ahead, he’s the current Golden Boot leader with six goals in this tournament.

Messi has never won that award. He finished second in Qatar with seven goals, one behind Kylian Mbappé. Only two Argentine players have ever led a World Cup in scoring: Guillermo Stábile in 1930 and Mario Kempes in 1978.

One stat stands out from the rest

Messi is the only player to score in every stage of a World Cup since the format added a round of 16. He did that in Qatar — group stage against Saudi Arabia and Mexico, then the round of 16, quarterfinal, semifinal and final. (He didn’t score against Poland in group play, but that was just one game.) Fontaine and Jairzinho scored in every stage of their tournaments too, but those ran straight from groups to quarterfinals, so they had fewer rounds to clear.

The only World Cup where Messi didn’t score at all was 2010. His goal breakdown: one in 2006, four in 2014, one in 2018, seven in 2022 and six so far in 2026. He enters the knockout stage chasing that first Golden Boot, and he’ll do it as the tournament’s all-time leading scorer, its longest active goal streak holder, and the only man to have played 29 World Cup matches.