Álex Baena Did What Messi Never Did — and It Says Everything About the 2026 World Cup
With the 2026 World Cup title, Baena achieved what even Messi couldn't: winning the Euros, the Olympics, and the World Cup in consecutive fashion.
Messi has everything. Di María has almost everything. But there is one thing neither of them ever managed — and Álex Baena has just pulled it off.
With the 2026 World Cup title, the Atlético de Madrid midfielder became the first player in history to win, in consecutive fashion, three major international football trophies: the Euros, the Olympics, and the World Cup. Nobody had ever done it before. Never.
The run began in the summer of 2024, when Baena lifted the European Championship in Germany with the senior Spanish squad under Luis de la Fuente. Weeks later, still in the same year, he joined the Olympic team managed by Santi Denia in Paris — and came home with gold. Two years on, he completed the cycle with the world title in the United States. Three different competitions, two distinct national sides, one single player.
The closest historical reference is precisely the Argentines Messi and Di María, who collected Olympic gold in Beijing 2008, two Copa América titles, and the 2022 Qatar World Cup. An extraordinary trophy cabinet — but not a consecutive one. That is exactly where Baena's achievement becomes unrepeatable.
And Argentina? Golmetria's model gives the defending champions a 6.92% chance of retaining the title — a figure the market also views with scepticism, pointing to an implied probability of 7.49%. Spain has just shown that the throne has no guaranteed occupant.
Football has a new name in the history books. And the 2026 World Cup will be remembered not only for Spain's triumph, but for the player who turned the impossible into routine.