All-time assist makers as Lionel Messi breaks record

As Lionel Messi equalled Miroslav Klose’s record for goals scored at the World Cup, he is also very close to being the top assister too.

The Argentine scored a hat-trick to remind everyone he is not done just yet and one more assist in this tournament will take him joint top of a very exclusive list.

Here’s the top 10 World Cup assisters.

=7. David Beckham (England) – Seven assists

The crossing maestro is second only to Harry Kane for creating England goals at major tournaments and six of Becks’ assists came at World Cups.

The first of those was in the 1998 tournament where the then 23-year-old set up Michael Owen to put England 2-1 up against Argentina.

In the 2002 World Cup, Beckham registered two assists, both of which came in the same game against Denmark.

In 2006, he set up the only goal in a 1-0 group stage win over Paraguay before producing the two goals needed to defeat Trinidad.

=7. Pierre Littbarski (West Germany) – Seven assists

Five of Littbarski’s seven World Cup assists came in the same tournament as West Germany reached the 1982 final.

The left winger opened his account with two against Chile in a comfortable 4-1 win before assisting the only goal against Austria.

He ended the second group phase with a goal and an assist against Spain before doing so again against France in the semi-finals.

=7. Antoine Griezmann (France) – Seven assists

Ask a lot of French football fans and the man most credited for their recent success is not Kylian Mbappe or Paul Pogba, it’s Griezmann.

As the glue that held the team together, Griezmann was a vital cog in Didier Deschamps’ machine and provided plenty of goals in his time.

His first came at his second tournament, the 2018 finals, where he waited until the quarter-final to get going but then proceeded to get an assist in the quarter, semi and then two in the final as France won the whole thing.

In 2022, he picked up his first group stage assist against Denmark before two against England in the quarter-finals.

=7. Grzegorz Lato (Poland) – Seven assists

While perhaps not such a household name as others on this list,  Lato is one of the best Polish players of all time and was part of the country’s two best-ever finishes.

Both of those were third-place playoffs, although the route to that match was a little different.

In 1974, Lato registered two assists in the initial group stage but did not get any more after that.

Then in 1978, he provided two before the 1982 World Cup where he got three, this time during a tournament with the format we are used to now.

=7. Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany) – Seven assists

Considering Schweinsteiger only managed one assist every 5.03 Bundesliga matches for Bayern, it is very impressive that he got seven for Germany in 20 matches, making it one every 2.86 matches.

Even more surprising is that none of them came in Germany’s 2014 winning campaign.

His first two came in his debut when he was deployed as a left winger against Costa Rica. By the end of the group stages, he had notched three assists.

He picked up one more before the tournament end, in the third-place play-off, and after withdrawing to a defensive midfielder role in 2010, he registered three in the knockout stages, including one against England in the round of 16.

=3. Pele (Brazil) – Eight assists

The three-time World Cup winner only registered two assists in his first three tournaments but produced a remarkable six in his final tournament, Brazil’s 1970 winning campaign.

Before then, he set up a World Cup goal for the first time in the 1958 semi-final against France, going on to score two in the final.

A hamstring injury ruled him out of much of the 1962 tournament but he did get an opening match assist.

It was another zero-assist tournament in 1966 but then came 1970 in which he assisted in all but one of the games he played.

He saved his best for last with two assists and a goal in Brazil’s 4-1 hammering of Italy in the final.

=3. Diego Maradona (Argentina) – Eight assists

Maradona’s assist-to-goal ratio is satisfyingly split 50-50 with the Argentina great getting eight of each.

He did not register an assist in his first tournament in 1982 but then set up five as Argentina won in 1986, three of which came in their opening group game. In the final, he assisted Argentina’s 84th-minute winner.

In 1990, he got two on the way to the final and in his final World Cup game in 1994, he assisted Claudio Caniggia as Argentina won 2-1 against Nigeria.

=3. Uwe Seeler (West Germany) – Eight assists

Centre-forward Seeler’s World Cup career for West Germany lasted an impressive 12 years and he featured in four tournaments for the side.

The first of those was in 1958 and he registered two assists, one in a group stage match against Czechoslovakia and then another in a semi-final defeat to Sweden.

He did not get any in 1962, although he did score twice, but in 1966, he assisted three goals.

Come 1970, he assisted the same amount again as West Germany won the third-place play-off.

5 pre-World Cup predictions that already look silly: Messi, Spain and more…

2. Didi (Brazil) – Nine assists

Didi was part of the excellent ’50s and ’60s Brazil side which would win back-to-back tournaments.

And while Didi did play in the 1962 tournament, all nine of his assists came before then.

He opened his World Cup account with three assists and a goal against Mexico in the 1954 tournament and recorded another assist in Brazil’s quarter-final defeat to Hungary.

In 1958, he again began on the front foot with two assists in Brazil’s opening game against Australia before setting up another goal in the 1958 quarter-final against Wales.

Didi then played a decisive role in the semi-final, scoring one and setting up two more against France.

1. Lionel Messi (Argentina) – 12 assists

The sheer attacking output of Messi means that even while he is currently the joint top scorer in World Cup history, he became the top assist maker during the 2026 tournament.

So far, Messi has registered12t assists in the tournament, including one in his very first game against Serbia and Montenegro at the 2006 World Cup.

In 2010, he provided one goal as Argentina defeated Mexico and then another in 2014 but his numbers began to really rise come the 2018 World Cup.

He registered two in that tournament, both in Argentina’s round of 16 defeat to France and in the 2022 edition, he assisted a goal in the group stage, quarter-final and semi-final.

No assist in the final itself but he got two goals so we are sure he won’t mind.

Messi has got four assists in 2026, including two to break England’s hearts in the semis.

READ NEXT: The top-scoring defenders in World Cup history: Stones, Pepe, Ramos & more…

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every player to have scored a World Cup hat-trick since 1966?