Lionel Messi poised to equal Miroslav Klose’s World Cup wins record as 2026 tournament begins
Latest update: Lionel Messi needs one World Cup group-stage win in 2026 to tie Miroslav Klose’s record of 17 individual match victories. Cristiano Ronaldo remains seven wins behind with a tougher path.
Lionel Messi needs just one World Cup match victory during the 2026 group stage to draw level with Miroslav Klose’s all-time record of 17 individual World Cup match wins, according to the supplied report. That puts Messi on the verge of setting a new longevity milestone as he prepares for what is likely to be his final World Cup campaign.
Why it matters
Records like Klose’s — 17 wins from 24 appearances across four tournaments (2002–2014) — are rare because they require both sustained international quality and repeated deep runs at successive World Cups. Messi already sits on 16 wins from 26 matches across five tournaments (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022), so a single group-stage victory in 2026 would be enough to at least tie the mark before the knockout rounds begin.
Where Messi and Klose stand in the all-time list
According to the source, the top of the ‘most World Cup match wins’ list currently reads: 1) Miroslav Klose — 17 wins, 2) Lionel Messi — 16 wins, tied with Cafu on 16. The Brazilian right-back Cafu reached his total across only 20 appearances (1994–2006). The report lists other historical figures and their win totals for context.
What this means for Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo sits on 10 World Cup match victories from 22 appearances (2006–2022), placing him several wins behind Klose and Messi. The report notes the 2026 World Cup’s expansion to 48 teams and the addition of a Round of 32 could increase the maximum number of matches a player can play in a single tournament to eight if their team reaches the final stages, creating a theoretical pathway for Ronaldo to add wins. However, even a perfect run for Portugal would still present a difficult route to overtake Klose or Messi, while Messi remains better positioned to claim the record.
Key points
Context: the 2026 format change could affect all-time records by giving players more potential matches to win in a single edition. The supplied report highlights that structural changes raise the ceiling for accumulating World Cup match wins, but does not provide match-by-match projections or guarantee any individual result.
What happens next
Messi’s opportunity to tie or surpass Klose depends on Argentina’s results in the 2026 group stage and beyond. The supplied report was published on 5 June 2026 and frames this as a statistical near-certainty that Messi will at least equal the mark early in the tournament if Argentina wins a group game. Match outcomes from the 2026 World Cup will confirm whether Messi indeed matches or breaks the record.