Could Messi and Ronaldo finally meet at the 2026 World Cup?

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have never faced each other at a World Cup or in any senior international match, and a first meeting at the 2026 tournament remains possible.

The pair have spent almost two decades defining the sport and have met countless times at club level, including La Liga and the Champions League years when Messi was at Barcelona and Ronaldo at Real Madrid. But on the international stage, their duels have been rare.

Portugal beat Argentina 1-0 in a friendly in 2014, with neither player scoring and both lasting only 45 minutes. A 2011 friendly went Argentina’s way, 2-1, and both men found the net. Their last meeting came in January 2023 in Riyadh, when Paris Saint-Germain beat a Riyadh Stars XI 5-4; Messi scored once and Ronaldo twice.

The most recent official clash was in the Champions League on 8 December 2020, when Juventus won 3-0 at the Camp Nou and Ronaldo scored twice.

At the 2026 World Cup, Argentina are in Group J with Jordan, Austria and Algeria, while Portugal are in Group K with DR Congo, Uzbekistan and Colombia. A quarter-final meeting would be the earliest realistic chance for the first World Cup showdown between the two.