WORLD CUP RECORDS (Part 43) - SCORER WITH LONGEST SPAN


Scorer with longest span: Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi, after scoring a goal in the quarter-finals against Netherlands, has extended his record for the most time spanning goals in the World Cup to 16 years 176 days. So much time has passed since the day (16 June 2006) when he scored in the World Cup for the first time (against Serbia).
Cristiano Ronaldo, who also scored a goal in 2006 (one day later than Messi), would have had the opportunity to challenge him at this World Cup if Portugal had qualified for the semi-finals. But since his team is already out, Messi will remain the record holder for the remainder of the current edition, while still being able to extend the record further by a few more days if he scores again in the remaining two matches.


 GOAL-SCORERS        WITHLONGESTSPAN  ATWORLD CUPS 
      
 PlayerCountrySpan (Y-D)First goalLast goal
      
1Lionel Messi Argentina16-17616/06/200609/12/2022
2Cristiano RonaldoPortugal16-16017/06/200624/11/2022
3Miroslav Klose Germany12-03701/06/200208/07/2014
4Michael Laudrup Denmark12-01608/06/198624/06/1998
5Uwe Seeler Germany12-00608/06/195814/06/1970
6Diego MaradonaArgentina12-00318/06/198221/06/1994
7PeléBrazil12-00219/06/195821/06/1970
8Sami Al-JaberSaudi Arabia11-35425/06/199414/06/2006
9Henrik LarssonSweden11-33916/07/199420/06/2006


Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are the only two players to have scored with a span of five World Cup editions (16 years). Seven players more scored with a time coverage of 4 editions (about 12 years).