Lionel Messi at World Cup 2026: What records could the Argentina captain break in his final tournament?

After months of uncertainty, Lionel Messi's involvement in Argentina's World Cup defence was confirmed with Lionel Scaloni's squad announcement for the 2026 tournament.

Messi was reluctant to publicly confirm his plans for the tournament, but his inclusion in Scaloni's preliminary squad indicated his desire to play in the 48-team competition in Canada, Mexico and the USA.

That intention was rubber-stamped when Scaloni whittled his selection down to 26 players, with Messi now set to feature in his sixth and final World Cup.

Here Sports Mole looks at the records Messi could break in Argentina's bid to win back-to-back World Cups.

Messi to join exclusive club with Ronaldo

Messi is set to join his old foe, Cristiano Ronaldo, in becoming one of two players to play in six different men's World Cups.

The Argentine is expected to set that record in the opening game against Algeria on June 16, before Ronaldo equals the feat in Portugal's tournament opener against DR Congo on June 17.

Messi made his World Cup debut in the second game of the 2006 group stage, coming off the bench to register a goal and an assist in a 6-0 thrashing of Serbia and Montenegro.

After making his first appearance as an 18-year-old, Messi will turn 39 two days after Argentina face Austria in their second group match.

Messi chasing Klose's goalscoring record

The Inter Miami captain scored seven goals in Argentina's triumphant World Cup campaign in 2022, ending his country's 36-year wait for football's biggest prize.

Those efforts took Messi onto 13 goals in 26 finals appearances, leaving him in joint fourth place in the all-time World Cup top scorers list.

Messi is currently level with France's Just Fontaine, one behind West Germany great Gerd Muller and two behind Brazil legend Ronaldo Nazario.

However, the honour of being the all-time top goalscorer currently belongs to Germany's Miroslav Klose, who netted 16 times in 24 matches.

As a result, Messi needs three goals to match Klose's tally and four to take the record for himself, although he will have to be wary of the challenge from France's Kylian Mbappe.

Mbappe is just one strike behind Messi with 12 World Cup goals to his name, and appears to be in a strong position to take the record at some stage of his career, even if he fails to achieve it in the upcoming tournament.

Argentina legend looking to surpass Pele in 2026 tournament

According to FIFA, Messi currently shares the World Cup goal-contribution record with Brazilian icon Pele.

The record currently stands at 21, two more than Cristiano Ronaldo and Klose, and one more than Gerd Muller.

Pele scored 12 goals and provided nine assists during his illustrious World Cup career, while Messi's has registered eight assists in addition to his 13-goal tally.

As a result, he simply needs to register a goal or an assist to surpass Pele and set a new benchmark for goal contributions at football's biggest tournament.

Oldest World Cup final goalscorer

While it should be simple to claim the outright goal contribution record, it will be significantly more challenging to become the oldest goalscorer in a World Cup final.

Messi currently holds the record for the oldest goalscorer for the winning team in the final, but the overall record belongs to Nils Liedholm, who scored in Sweden's 5-2 defeat to Brazil in 1958 at the age of 35 and 264 days.

Argentina will need to reach the final for the third time in four World Cups if Messi is to have any hope of achieving that record.

The 38-year-old would then need to find the net and hope that no one older scores from the opposition.

Messi targeting appearance milestone

This one is not a record, but it would certainly be an impressive achievement if Messi becomes just the third footballer to reach 200 appearances in men's international football.

The former Barcelona star is just two appearances from reaching that milestone, having previously represented his country on 198 occasions.

Ronaldo has the outright record with 226 appearances in a Portugal shirt, while Kuwait's Bader-Mutawa is the only other player to reach the 200-game mark.