Who has the most assists at the World Cup? Now that Opta has this data back to the 1966 finals, we can list the players with the most assists in the competition since that edition.
Opta has gone back through the footage of every World Cup game from the 1966 tournament onwards to ensure the record books have accurate, detailed data on the biggest competition in the sporting calendar. That means we can now list the players with the most assists at World Cup finals since 1966 with the same accuracy that Opta usually boasts with its data archives.
It probably shouldn’t come as any surprise that many of the biggest names in World Cup history appear in this list. Two of the greatest players the game has ever seen are right at the top.
So, which players lead the way for the most assists at the World Cup? Read on to find out.
Most Assists at the World Cup
8 – Lionel Messi (Argentina), Diego Maradona (Argentina).7 – Pierre Littbarski (Germany), Grzegorz Lato (Poland).6 – David Beckham (England), Pelé (Brazil), Thomas Häßler (Germany), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Thomas Müller (Germany), Uwe Seeler (Germany).5 – Zico (Brazil), Antoine Griezmann (France), Ivan Perisic (Croatia), Gerd Müller (Germany), Michael Ballack (Germany), Juan Sebastián Verón (Argentina), Juan Cuadrado (Colombia), Robert Gadocha (Poland).
*since 1966
Lionel Messi (8 Assists)
Lionel Messi has eight assists at World Cup finals, but his position at the top of this list is as much to do with his longevity as his unquestionable ability. He has set up at least one goal in each of the five tournaments he has played at… so far.
His first came in a 6-0 group-stage win over Serbia at the 2006 tournament, but that was the only assist he managed in that World Cup. He added just one more in 2010 (in the round-of-16 tie with Mexico) and then again in 2014 (also in the round of 16, this time against Switzerland). He got two assists in the 2018 edition, but both came in the dramatic round-of-16 4-3 defeat to France.
His best-ever haul at a single tournament was the three he tallied en route to glory in 2022. That year, he got one in the group stage against Mexico, one in the quarter-finals against the Netherlands and a particularly memorable one in the semi-finals against Croatia, when he ran from the halfway line, turned Josko Gvardiol inside-out and pulled the ball back for Júlian Alvarez to put the icing on the cake of a 3-0 win to send Argentina to the final.
He may not be done yet, too.
Diego Maradona (8 Assists)
Diego Maradona, one of the main rivals to Messi for the title of the best footballer ever, is currently level with him at the top of this particular list.
However, unlike Messi, Maradona got the vast majority of his assists in a single tournament, including a fair few of them in one match.
After getting no assists in 1982, Maradona ran riot in Argentina’s opening game of the 1986 tournament. He set up all three goals in a 3-1 win over South Korea, making him one of only five players to register 3+ assists in a World Cup match (since 1966), alongside Robert Gadocha (4 for Poland vs Haiti, 1974), Rob Rensenbrink (3 for Netherlands vs Austria, 1978), Gordon Strachan (3 for Scotland vs New Zealand, 1982), and László Fazekas (3 for Hungary vs El Salvador, 1982).
Maradona added one more in the group game against Bulgaria, but then, while he scored braces in both the quarters and semi-final, he saved his next assist for the last moment, and it was one of the most important assists he could possibly get. His pass late on in the final against West Germany put Jorge Burruchaga through on goal to make it 3-2 and win Argentina the World Cup. His five assists at the 1986 World Cup is the second most by a player at a single edition of the competition.
The legendary Argentina number 10 would go on to add two more assists at the 1990 tournament and one more in 1994 to end his career on eight World Cup assists.
Pierre Littbarski (7 Assists)
Midfielder Pierre Littbarski played a fundamental role in West Germany’s run to the final of the 1982 World Cup, picking up five assists en route to the final. His haul did include, however, setting up the only goal of a game later dubbed the Disgrace of Gijón, when West Germany went 1-0 up against Austria before both teams sat back for the rest of the game because the scoreline would send both teams through to the knockout stages at the expense of Algeria. The xG race chart from that game shows just how uncompetitive the game was from the 30th minute onwards as the teams both sat back and waited for the full-time whistle.
Littbarski did make some other telling contributions, though, including two assists in the group-stage win over Chile, one more in the second-round victory over Spain and another in extra-time in the semi-final against France, a 3-3 draw now considered a World Cup classic that West Germany eventually won on penalties and has since become known as the Night of Seville. What is it with Littbarski and getting assists in games that are later given names of their own?
The German would go on to lose the final in 1982, and was also a beaten finalist in 1986, a tournament he failed to get a single assist in despite making five appearances. However, he added two more assists in the group-stage win over the United Arab Emirates in 1990, and would finally taste World Cup glory in Italy, as Littbarski and West Germany got revenge on Argentina for the 1986 final with a 1-0 win.
Grzegorz Lato (7 Assists)
Grzegorz Lato was a prolific goalscorer for Poland through the 1970s and 1980s, now ranking third in the nation’s top scorers’ list, with 45 goals in his 100 appearances.
However, he was also known for his creativity and ranks joint third in the list of most assists in World Cup games since the 1966 tournament, with seven. He is also among a select group of players with more than 10 goals, making him one of only five players with 10+ goals and 5+ assists at the World Cup in this period, along with Messi, Pelé, and Müllers Gerd and Thomas.
Lato’s first assists at the World Cup came in the 1974 group stage, in wins over Argentina and Haiti, before helping Poland to a third-place finish with a tournament-best seven goals.
Four years later, he got one assist in the first group stage and then another in the second group stage, but Poland crashed out with defeats to Argentina and Brazil.
His most prolific tournament in assists terms, however, was 1982, when he laid one goal on in a 5-1 win over Peru and then two more in the defeat of Belgium in the second group stage to take his total to seven.
Seven Players (6 Assists)
David Beckham, Pelé, Thomas Häßler, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Müller, Uwe Seeler and Francesco Totti are all level in fifth place, on six assists each.
Seeler needed the most games to get his half dozen (21), while Totti needed the fewest (11).
Müller played in the most different editions of the World Cup (five), but he only assisted in two of them (three in each). Beckham assisted a goal in the most different tournaments among this group (three).
Pelé, meanwhile, played in four World Cups but got all six of his assists in six games at the 1970 edition, which he and Brazil won. Four of these six players won the World Cup, only Seeler and Beckham failing to do so.
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