Lionel Messi sets 10 records in his first FIFA World Cup 2026 match: Here's a breakdown

When Lionel Messi began his FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign on June 16, 2026 and captained his country Argentina in their opening match against Algeria, he had already made history.

However, what followed next was nothing short of magical. Messi put the pitch on fire, scoring a hat-trick in the very first match. From record appearance at the tournament to the first World Cup hat-trick, all Messi did was make history, as he began writing another chapter of his magnificent life.

Let us have a look at all the records he made in a single match.

Lionel Messi put three goals past Algeria during Argentina's FIFA World Cup 2026 opening match on Tuesday, June 16. At 38 years and 357 days old, this made him the oldest player to score a World Cup hattrick.

Following his record-breaking hattrick against Algeria, Messi equalled Germany player Miroslav Klose's tally of 16 goals to become the joint all-time top goalscorer at the FIFA World Cup. However, given France's Kylian Mbappé is the only other active member in the race, this record will be subject to several changes.

On Tuesday, Lionel Messi became the first player to appear in six different editions from the World Cup, having played the tournament in 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022 and 2026. He will soon be followed by Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo who will be the second player to achieve the feat.

Messi became the oldest World Cup goalscorer for Argentina on June 16, 2026 at 38 when he found the net against Algeria. In a splendid coincidence, this comes exactly 20 years after he became the youngest on June 16, 2006, when he made his World Cup debut at 18.

Lionel Messi now has a whopping 24 goal contributions in the World Cup (16 goals, 8 assists and counting), which makes him the player with more goal contributions in the history of the tournament.

Messi's first appearance in the FIFA World Cup 2026 marked his 200th match for Argentina, the most by any player in his country. He is only the third player after Cristiano Ronaldo and Kuwait's Bader Al-Mutawa to have 200 international caps.

Lionel Messi has the highest appearance in the World Cup among men, playing a total of 27 matches across 6 editions of the tournament. This tally will go up as the 2026 World Cup proceeds, further increasing the gap.

When Messi started against Algeria, it marked his 24th consecutive World Cup appearance, a record held by Italy's Paolo Maldini who appeared in 23 back-to-back matches. The Argentina star has been a mainstay of the national team since 2010 which goes on to show his longevity.

In an extraordinary feat, Lionel Messi has 11 Player of the Match awards in the history of FIFA World Cup. He won his first during the debut match in 2006, his only one in that year. He went on to win 4 awards in 2014, 1 in 2018 and 5 in the 2022 Qatar World Cup, which also made him the player with the most Player of the Match awards in a single World Cup tournament.

No other player has scored against more National teams in the World Cup than Messi. After scoring against Algeria, the Argentine now has scored against 11 different countries in the tournament. The other 10 nations are Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, France, Iran, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Serbia (and Montenegro).

For more updates, join/follow our WhatsApp, Telegram and YouTube channels.