Messi breaks five Guinness World Records with FIFA World Cup victory

Besides leading his country, Argentina to victory in the 2022 World Cup final, the team’s captain Lionel Messi broke five records as per Guinness World Records.

He surpassed Germany’s Lothar Matthäus for the record of most FIFA World Cup matches played. This was Messi’s 26th World Cup match.

Having played a pivotal and sensational role in Argentina’s outing he went on to set four other Guinness World Records titles.

He is now the holder of Most Man of the Match awards at the FIFA World Cup and the number is 11. Before the start of this edition of World Cup, he was tied with Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, and Netherland’s Arjen Robben, each having won six Man of the Match awards at World Cup tournaments. Messi, this time went on to earn Man of the Match in five games including the final.

The third record he now holds is being the first and the only person to assist at five different FIFA World Cups. His debut was in 2006 in Germany and he went on to represent Argentina in 2010 (South Africa); 2014 (Brazil); Russia (2018); and Qatar (2022).

The final match was also Messi’s 19th appearance as captain in the FIFA World Cup. He is followed by Rafael Marquez (17) and Diego Maradona (16).

With the 2022 edition being Messi’s fifth World Cup, he shares the record with Lothar Matthäus, Rafael Márquez, Antonio Carbajal, Cristiano Ronaldo and Andrés Guardado.