Lionel Messi has won one World Cup, the trophy he finally lifted in December 2022. That single title closed the one gap that had shadowed a glittering international career, and it remains the answer behind the search for how many World Cups has Messi won.
People are looking it up now because Messi was still doing Messi things at 39 in the 2026 World Cup. He scored five goals in his opening three games, becoming the first player to pass 20 World Cup goals in tournament history and pushing his tally to 21.
The scale of that mark explains why the question keeps coming back. Miroslav Klose’s World Cup finals goals tally stood at 16, and Messi has moved beyond that number while still competing at the top level. His run also underlines how rare this is: 14 of Messi’s 21 goals came in the later stages of his World Cup story, a rate of 66 per cent, the sort of production that turns a great player into a tournament constant.
That is where the story gets interesting. Messi won the World Cup in 2022, yet he is still writing new records at the 2026 World Cup, which means the trophy did not end his influence on the tournament. Six days after Messi crossed 20, Kylian Mbappe became only the second player to do the same, with 11 of his 20 goals, or 55 per cent, coming in the later stages of his own World Cup record.
So the short answer is one trophy, but the larger answer is that Messi’s World Cup legacy did not stop when he lifted it. He could still shape the final chapter again, and if Messi and Kylian Mbappe both clear their semi-final ties, the game may get the rematch it keeps circling back to.
