Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in Portugal’s 5-0 demolition of Uzbekistan on June 23, 2026, becoming the first player in history to score in six different FIFA World Cups. He’s 41 years and 138 days old.
One day later, Lionel Messi turned 39 and celebrated by recording a hat-trick against Algeria in Argentina’s opener. That performance pushed him past Miroslav Klose’s all-time World Cup goalscoring record of 16 goals, putting the Argentine legend at 17 or more career World Cup goals.
The numbers that shouldn’t exist
Ronaldo’s brace made him the oldest player ever to score two goals in a single World Cup match. It also cemented him as Portugal’s all-time leading World Cup goalscorer with 10 goals across six tournaments stretching from 2006 to 2026.
Messi’s hat-trick, meanwhile, solved a record that had stood since 2014. Klose’s 16 World Cup goals had looked like one of those benchmarks that might survive a generation. Messi shattered it in a single match, having already won the tournament itself in 2022.
