Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal have done something nobody else at the 2026 FIFA World Cup has managed. They’ve each completed more than 20 successful dribbles in the tournament, a feat that has captivated soccer fans and, somewhat predictably, spawned a wave of unofficial fan tokens on the Solana blockchain.
Messi, who turned 39 and is widely assumed to be playing in his final World Cup, has recorded 25 successful dribbles. Yamal, his 19-year-old Spanish counterpart, sits at 22. No other player in the tournament has cracked the 20 mark. The 20-year age gap between them makes the stat line read like a passing-of-the-torch moment scripted by Hollywood, except it’s actually happening on pitches across North America.
Where soccer meets speculation
Yamal’s electric performances have triggered the creation of multiple unofficial fan tokens trading under variants of the $YAMAL ticker on Solana. These aren’t sanctioned by the player, his club, or FIFA. Multiple tokens, multiple tickers, zero official backing.
Yamal leads the tournament in successful dribbles per 90 minutes, with estimates ranging from approximately 3.45 to 5.8 depending on the data source, comfortably ahead of Messi’s average of about 2.59.
