Argentinian football player Lionel Messi and Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo are preparing to take part in the World Cup organization for the 6th time. 38-year-old Lionel Messi and 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo, who left their mark on the 2000s in world football, will play in the 2026 FIFA World Cup hosted by the USA, Mexico and Canada, and will take part in this tournament for the 6th time in their careers and break a historical record.
Argentina with Messi will face Algeria in the first match of Group J at the Kansas City Stadium on June 17 at 04.00 GMT.
Ronaldo’s Portugal will face the Democratic Republic of Congo in the first match of Group K at Houston Stadium on June 17 at 20:00 GMT.
LIONEL MESSI
Argentina’s star Lionel Messi, who won the championship at the 2022 FIFA World Cup held in Qatar, is the player who has played the most matches in the history of the World Cup with 26 matches.
Messi, who will start the tournament at the age of 38, may end the organization at the age of 39 after his birthday on June 24, if they succeed in advancing to the upper rounds of the cup after the group matches.
Messi, who scored 13 goals in 26 matches in the World Cup, has the title of Argentina’s top scorer in this organization. The Argentinian star, who appeared in five different World Cups (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022), netted 7 times in the tournament where they won the championship in 2022.
Messi, who won the World Cup with Argentina, will try to lift the cup for the second time in 2026.
CRISTIANO RONALDO
If Portuguese star striker Cristiano Ronaldo plays in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, he will have played in 6 different World Cup organizations.
Ronaldo, who aims to exceed the 1000 goal threshold in his career, wants to continue scoring goals in this tournament. The star football player scored 8 goals in a total of 22 matches in 5 different World Cups he participated in throughout his career.
Ronaldo managed to score in every tournament played from 2006 to 2022, becoming the first football player to score in 5 different World Cups.
The star football player, who could not experience the joy of championship with Portugal in the World Cup, will fight for his first championship in 2026.
7 FOOTBALL PLAYERS PLAYED IN 5 WORLD CUP
So far, 7 football players have played in 5 World Cups.
In addition to Argentinian Lionel Messi and Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, Mexicans Antonio Carbajal, Andres Guardado and Rafael Marquez, and Germans Lothar Matthaeus and Manuel Neuer were the names who took part in 5 cups.
Mexican Guillermo Ochoa, who was included in his team’s World Cup squad six times, played in 3 tournaments. The experienced goalkeeper, who has been in all of Mexico’s World Cup squads since 2006, guarded the goal in the tournaments in 2014, 2018 and 2022. Ochoa most recently served as a substitute in Mexico’s opening match of the 2026 World Cup.