Football arguments rarely settle themselves. Pele or Maradona, Messi or Ronaldo — these debates have filled bars and forums for decades without a final answer. But on Sunday, one man has a chance to end his own chapter of that argument for good. If Lionel Messi lifts the World Cup with Argentina in New Jersey, he will not just win another trophy. He will complete a resume that no other player in the sport’s history can match.
A Second Title, Back to Back
Winning the World Cup once, in 2022, already secured Messi’s legacy as one of the greatest to ever play. But winning it twice in a row is a different achievement entirely. No team has retained the World Cup since Brazil in 1962 . Only Italy (1934 and 1938) has managed to defend the title before that.
If Argentina beats Spain on Sunday, Messi becomes the first player since Pele to be the central figure in back-to-back World Cup wins, at 39 years old, in a tournament stretched across a more brutal 48-team format that older stars were never built to survive.
Think about what that means practically. Most elite players are winding down or retired by their late thirties. Messi is instead delivering, by several measures, the best World Cup of his career.
The Numbers Are Already Historic
Whatever happens on Sunday, Messi walks away from this tournament with two records that may never be broken. With 21 goals, he is now the all-time top scorer in World Cup history, and separately, the all-time leader in assists (12) too.
No other player has held both crowns at once. He has also set the record for most World Cup appearances (6 editions), and most matches played (33 after the semi-finals), breaking marks previously held by legends like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lothar Matthäus.
Here is a simple way to picture it. Imagine a player who does not just score the goals, but also creates them for teammates, tournament after tournament, from age 19 to age 39. That consistency, over six World Cups, is what separates a great career from a historic one.
Why the Final Matters So Much
A win on Sunday would also make Messi only the second player ever, after Brazil’s Cafu, to appear in three World Cup finals . Pele won three World Cups but never carried a team the way Messi has carried Argentina through this tournament, including a dramatic, come-from-behind semi-final win over England.
This is the piece that separates the argument from being settled or unsettled. Scoring records can be debated. Assist records can be debated. But delivering, at 39, in your third final, against a strong Spain side, with a trophy that no team has defended since 1962. That is a story with a clear ending, one way or the other.
Where This Leaves the Debate
Ballon d’Or counts, club trophies, and international titles all matter in the greatest-of-all-time conversation. Messi already leads or ties in most of them. What he has lacked, compared to Pele’s three World Cups, is that final piece of team success at the very top level, repeated. Sunday closes that gap, or leaves it open for one more cycle of debate.
Either way, this has been one of the great sporting stories of the decade, and it is not finished yet. Fans following the tournament’s final stretch, including Sunday’s final between Argentina and Spain, can follow full coverage and match build-up at the FIFA World Cup 2026 hub as the story reaches its conclusion.
Football will keep arguing about its greatest player long after Sunday. But if Messi lifts the trophy again, he will have given the strongest possible answer the sport has ever seen.
