Cristiano Ronaldo will qualify for the 2022 World Cup before Lionel Messi

Cristiano Ronaldo will lead Portugal to the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification before Lionel Messi will captain his country Argentina to the same tournament. Portugal will qualify if they win their two games in the October international window as they will be guaranteed maximum points in the group.

Lionel Messi however has a long way to go before Argentina can qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in the CONMEBOL qualifying series. Argentina are on 19 points, eight behind leaders Brazil who have 27points and are in automatic qualification position but have nine games left.

The two greatest footballers of all time will both appear at their fifth FIFA World Cups in Qatar next year having appeared at the 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 editions with Lionel Messi entering the final in 2014, eventually losing to Germany.

Both have won senior international trophies for their counties. Cristiano Ronaldo won the 2016 European championship while Lionel Messi won the 2021 Copa America. Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 111 goals for Portugal while Lionel Messi has scored 79 goals for Argentina.