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Eight-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi will turn 39 during the group stage of this summer's World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
World Cup 2026 offers Messi the chance to become the first captain to lift the World Cup trophy for the second consecutive tournament and he was named as captain by Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni.
Messi plays his club football in the United States and has filled stadiums around the country while playing for Inter Miami. His marketability in North America is a sure thing, but fans have been disappointed by his occasional inability to play in Major League Soccer fixtures away from the Gateway to Latin America.
Will Messi play for Argentina at World Cup 2026?
Messi's birthday falls between Argentina's second and third Group J fixtures. They begin their World Cup defence against Algeria at Arrowhead Stadium on Tuesday, June 16 and Messi is expected to lead his team onto the field in Kansas City.
Argentina's record goalscorer and most-capped player has started 14 of Inter Miami's MLS matches in the now-paused 2026 season and has scored 12 goals and assisted seven for the 2025 league champions.
Inter Miami's MLS Cup win meant that Messi became a league champion in a third country after successes with Barcelona in Spain and Paris Saint-Germain in France, as well as a serial continental winner for club and country.
Messi's primary goal is to captain his country to a historic second consecutive World Cup win, which no team has achieved since 1962, but there's an array of individual records just waiting to be broken or extended by him at World Cup 2026 too.
No player has ever appeared at six World Cups. Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa is in the squad for the sixth time but didn't play in 2006, 2010 or against South Africa in their 2026 curtain-raiser.
Cristiano Ronaldo is the other player poised to become the first player to play in six men's World Cups and Portugal play a day after Argentina, so yes, Messi will play at World Cup 2026.
If Messi scores four goals in this tournament, he will become the World Cup's record scorer by moving on to 17 goals and overtaking former Germany striker Miroslav Klose.
Realistically, this year's competition will be Messi's last chance to claim that accolade. The Argentina captain is expected to retire from international football after World Cup 2026 and will be 43 in four years' time.
This one last hurrah presents a host of ways to make history, something Messi has become accustomed to over the last two decades at the top.
What do you think? Will Messi break more World Cup records or lift the trophy next month? Let us know below...
