FIFA 2026: Will Lionel Messi achieve the ‘impossible’ dream of playing six world cups?

After the end of the match against Croatia, Lionel Messi finally said he couldn't see himself playing in the FIFA World Cup 2026, to be contested in the USA, Canada, and Mexico. Earlier, he had been evasive about whether Qatar 2022 would be his last for Argentina.

Messi said after the Croatia match that there would be a long wait before the next world cup. He actually said he would not be able to play the next world cup and the final would be his last world cup match for the Albiceleste. 

By the way, no player has ever played six world cups before. If the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner manages to do that, it will be another “first time” feather in his crown.

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Meanwhile, former Argentine footballer Valdano has claimed FIFA 2026 may not be ruled out for Messi as of yet. Valdano, who was a part of the 1986 champion team led by Diego Maradona, has told Spanish radio station Cadena Cope that Messi told him off camera that playing a sixth world cup would be “impossible” as no player had ever done that before. At the same time, Messi told him that he might change his mind if Argentina won the world cup.

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“If I'm a World Champion I'll keep my shirt on until the next World Cup,” Valdano quoted Messi as saying.

As per Valdano, even though it has been “practically impossible” to play in six world cups, we have to see if Messi is capable of doing the “impossible”, Goal.com reported.

Millions of people thronged thoroughfares, motorways and overpasses in a frantic attempt to get a glimpse of the national team that won one of the greatest world cup finals of all time, forcing the celebration of the Argentine world cup champions to be abruptly cut short.

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The players were forced to exit the open-air van that was transporting them to Buenos Aires and board helicopters for what the administration characterised as an ad hoc flight because the city's capital was overtaken by enthusiastic, flag-waving supporters.