MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Messi becomes the outright all-time top scorer in World Cup history

The goal came in the 38th minute at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, on the outskirts of Dallas, and put Argentina ahead 1-0 with the match under way

Lionel Messi on Monday became the outright all-time top scorer in World Cup history, netting his seventeenth goal in the competition during Argentina's match against Austria, on the second matchday of their group at the 2026 World Cup. With that goal, the Argentine captain surpassed the 16 scored by Germany's Miroslav Klose, until now the tournament's leading marksman.

The goal came in the 38th minute at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, on the outskirts of Dallas, and put Argentina ahead 1-0 with the match under way. Minutes earlier, in the 8th minute, Messi had passed up a chance to set the record when he missed a penalty that was stopped by the Austrian goalkeeper, Alexander Schlager.

The milestone caps a two-decade run at football's biggest event. Messi scored his first World Cup goal exactly twenty years ago, in 2006, when he came on as a substitute in Argentina's 6-0 rout of Serbia and Montenegro. He went on to add goals across six editions: one at Germany 2006, none at South Africa 2010, four at Brazil 2014, one at Russia 2018 and seven at Qatar 2022, where he lifted the title. At the 2026 World Cup he has four: a hat-trick on his opening match against Algeria, which let him equal Klose, and the one against Austria, which left him alone at the top.

Messi had started the tournament three goals behind the German striker, who spread his 16 goals across four consecutive World Cups, between 2002 and 2014. The next active scorer is France's Kylian Mbappé, who has 14 goals and, at 27, would have room to play at least two more tournaments.

The mark reinforces Messi's standing as one of the great figures in World Cup history. A world champion at Qatar 2022, the forward is playing a new edition in North America at 38 with Argentina, who had opened with a 3-0 win over Algeria. After the match against Austria, Argentina will close the group stage against Jordan, scheduled for June 28. The new record was set definitively with his goal, regardless of the final result of the match in Arlington.