11 Players with Most Assists in World Cup History

Highlights

• Not all World Cup heroes are goalscorers; those who provide assists are often forgotten.
• The likes of Lionel Messi and David Beckham are among the players with the most assists in history.
• GIVEMESPORT now looks at the 11 players with the highest number of assists ever in the World Cup.

The people who are remembered the most in the World Cup are the obvious heroes, the goalscorers. And whilst excellent goalkeeping performances – think Guillermo Ochoa at the 2014 World Cup – or some brilliant defensive plays – think Bobby Moore’s tackle on Jairzinho in 1970 – are remembered forevermore, it is often those who provide the helping hand with those goals that are forgotten.

But the players who have set up the most goals in the tournament’s history should have a legacy of their own too. The likes of Lionel Messi and David Beckham are among the list of illustrious names to have provided their teammates with the final pass or cross the most number of times in the competition. Now, GIVEMESPORT takes a look at the 11 players with the most assists in World Cup history.

11 Robert Gadocha – Five Assists

Poland

Admittedly, Robert Gadocha is a name that probably won’t be remembered by many outside of his native Poland, but he does hold a World Cup record. Gadocha provided four assists in Poland’s 1974 Group Stage game against Haiti as the central European nation emerged as 7–0 victors. Three of the assists were expertly placed outswinging corners, with the outlier being a short layoff from a free-kick.

Poland actually finished third at the 1974 World Cup, advancing through both group stages to the third place playoff where they defeated Brazil. Grzegorz Lato was the final beneficiary of Gadocha’s creative instincts at the 1974 World Cup as the winger provided a helping hand to defeat Yugoslavia in a key victory.

10 Bastian Schweinsteiger – Six Assists

Germany

The first of rather a lot of players on this list with six assists, but the lowest ranked due to having the lowest number of assists per game (0.30). Schweinsteiger’s six were split across the 2006 World Cup and 2010 World Cup. He often made moves filled with finesse and strong dribbling that would open up the space in front of him to provide for the goalscorers, with arguably the best one coming against England as he breezed past Glen Johnson to find a wide open Thomas Müller.

Additionally, he provided some fantastic deliveries from set pieces, again finding Muller with a superbly struck ball against Argentina in 2010 with the ball only needing a flick from the then young German to find its way into the back of the net.

9 Thomas Muller – Six Assists

Germany

As well as being a craft finisher, Muller has been an excellent provider for Germany during his performances at four different World Cups.

Muller has a unique ability to find himself wide open in space and this has helped both his goalscoring and creativity. He has often been labeled as a ‘Raumdeuter’, which is German for space finder, and his first assist at the 2010 World Cup is a perfect example of this, as he found space behind the Australian defense to cut the ball back for Lukas Podolski. He can however create something out of nothing, which was evident against Ghana in the same tournament as he broke free from a challenge to set-up Mesut Ozil.

His creative performances helped him to win the FIFA Young Player award at the 2010 World Cup and, arguably, he was unlucky not to win the Golden Ball award at the 2014 World Cup as he finished runner-up to Lionel Messi after providing three assists alongside five goals in the tournament.

8 Thomas Hassler – Six Assists

Germany

German forwards named Thomas appear to really like providing six assists at World Cups.

Hassler was often deployed as a Mezzala due to his fantastic playmaking abilities and appeared at three World Cups in the 1990s. His best performances came during the USA ’94 tournament, where he provided five of his six World Cup assists. He was the main source of creativity for a German team that had to battle their way to the quarter-finals where they were ultimately defeated by a Hristo Stoichkov-powered Bulgaria. His best performance came against South Korea, when he set up two goals to help give Germany an unassailable lead.

7 Pele – Six Assists

Brazil

Still considered by some to be the greatest footballer of all time, Pele naturally makes an appearance on this list. Everyone knows how formidable a talent he was in his era and that shone through most at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico.

At this edition of football’s most prestigious tournament, Pele provided all six of his World Cup assists, adding four goals along the way for good measure. It is one of the most dominant performances at a World Cup and helped Brazil cruise to the third of their record five victories.

His two assists in the final helped to showcase his delightful forward play as a cushioned header and superbly weighted pass helped Brazil to overcome Italy.

6 Francesco Totti – Six Assists

Italy

It doesn’t feel right that Franceso Totti only played in two World Cups. However, he certainly made a big impact in both of the tournaments that he played in. Two assists in 2002, with one coming against South Korea before his red card contributed to an early exit for Gli Azzurri, got the ball rolling for Il Gladiatore but it was the 2006 World Cup where his creativity really flowed.

Key assists in group stage victories over Australia and Ghana showed Totti was out to prove a point for Italy and a two-assist performance against Ukraine, with the second being an absolutely exquisite cross, expunged the Italian’s demons from the previous tournament as they would eventually go on to win the tournament.

Totti retired after the 2006 World Cup, electing to focus solely on his club duties for AS Roma. You can’t help but wonder if he played at more World Cups that he might be higher up on this list, perhaps even holding the record for the most assists.

5 David Beckham – Six Assists

England

David Beckham has a very diverse group of World Cup assists. Two of them are simple layoffs, such as for Steven Gerrard against Trinidad & Tobago, others are defense splitting passes such as the one that found Michael Owen for that iconic goal against Argentina, and some are superb crosses from open play or set pieces, such as the two against Sweden and Denmark that helped contribute to his redemption at the 2002 World Cup.

All of them, however, are intelligent pieces of creativity that exemplify what he was as a player. Perhaps the best was an incredible cross from the touchline once again against Trinidad & Tobago that found the head of Peter Crouch at the back post. The ball landed perfectly on the 6’7 striker’s head, allowing Crouch to place the ball into the back of the net with ease.

4 Grzegorz Lato – Seven Assists

Poland

Grzegorz Lato was an absolutely marvellous player for Poland in the 1970s and early 1980s and his goalscoring and creative instincts were probably the biggest contributor to Poland being one of the strongest teams in international football during that period.

Poland finished third in 1974, fifth in 1978, and third again in 1982 with Lato providing two assists against Belgium in a key victory. He was rather unlucky that the Golden Ball award did not exist in 1974 as he put in one of the most dominant World Cup campaigns in the history of the tournament, finishing with nine goal involvements.

3 Pierre Littbarski – Seven Assists

Germany

Pierre Littbarski was a member of the Germany squads that reached three consecutive World Cup finals, winning the tournament in 1990.

His performances in the 1982 World Cup, held in Spain, were key to Die Mannschaft reaching the final. An assist in the quarter-final against the hosts of the tournament and another in the semi-final against France were both accompanied by a goal. He was held off the scoresheet in the final, however.

He saw limited use in the 1986 World Cup, only starting one match, but he was a regular starter in the side that emerged victorious against Argentina in 1990 a rematch of the previous World Cup. He provided two assists in the group stage, both of them coming in a 5-1 win over Armenia.

2 Diego Maradona – Eight Assists

Argentina

A player that will almost certainly be remembered for his goals, Diego Maradona is actually the joint most creative player in World Cup history. It is not that surprising considering he was often deployed as an attacking midfielder throughout his career but nontheless there is definitely that one goal that he will always be remembered for, among others.

A three-assist performance against South Korea is an oft forgotten performance at the 1986 World Cup. Throughout the game he was fouled relentlessly but he still prevailed. Additionally, he provided the assist for the winning goal in the final against West Germany, at the time cementing his status as Argentina’s greatest ever footballer. Until someone else came along.

1 Lionel Messi – Eight Assists

Argentina

Within minutes of making his debut for Argentina at the World Cup against Serbia in 2006, Lionel Messi had provided his first assist at the tournament. He would go on to provide only two more at the next two editions of the World Cup taking his tally up to three before notching two more in a valiant but ultimately futile effort against France in the Round of 16 stage of the 2018 edition of the World Cup.

It was the 2022 World Cup where he finally won the tournament for Argentina, however, where he was at his most creative. A simple lay off to Enzo Fernández got the creativity juices flowing as in the quarter-finals against the Netherlands he produced an unbelievable pass, threading the needle between Dutch defenders to help with the opening goal.

His best assist was saved for the semi-final against Croatia where he toyed with Josko Gvardiol for the length of the entire touchline, goading him not once, not twice, but three times before escaping and providing the helping hand for Julian Alvarez. It is one of the all-time greatest assists at the World Cup.

All stats courtesy of BESOCCER