Lionel Messi has done it again. The Argentina captain scored his 17th FIFA World Cup goal against Austria on Monday, officially breaking the all-time men’s World Cup scoring record and surpassing Germany legend Miroslav Klose.
The record-breaking moment came during Argentina’s 2026 Group J clash at AT&T Stadium. Messi’s goal took him clear of Klose’s 16 goal mark that had stood since 2014.
Klose himself predicted it would happen: “This is an expanded edition, there are more matches and therefore more opportunities to score… If it happens, I would be pleased if it were Messi. I have always been a huge fan of his, He is a genius”.
Messi entered World Cup 2026 on 13 goals across 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022. He announced his sixth World Cup campaign with a hat-trick against Algeria on June 16, hitting 16 goals and tying Klose.
That treble at 38 years and 357 days, few days to to his 39th birthday, which also makes him the oldest player ever to score a World Cup hat-trick.
Now, with his strike vs Austria, Messi has 17 World Cup goals from 2006 to 2026, plus 7 goals during Argentina’s 2022 title run.
Beyond the goals record, Messi already holds:
Most World Cup appearances: 27 matches
First man to play in 6 World Cups: 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022, 2026
Most Man of the Match awards: 12
