Should Lionel Messi win the Ballon d'Or?

The 2026 Ballon d’Or race is one of the most competitive in recent years, with about five players having a genuine chance of winning this year’s award. 

One of these players is Lionel Messi, who once again made a strong case for himself after leading Inter Miami to a Campeones Cup win, scoring his 100th goal for the club in the process. 

Messi is no stranger to winning this award, as he has won it 8 times, the most by any player in Ballon d’Or history. However, we want to take a look at his chances of winning his ninth this year. 

Before taking a look at Lionel Messi’s Ballon d’Or argument, it is important to note that the performance period for this year’s award is between August 3, 2025, and July 19, 2026. 

With that said, let us take a look at Messi’s numbers from this period, even though the MLS season always starts in February. 

The Argentine played ten regular-season games for Inter Miami between August 2025 and October 2025, scoring ten goals and registering nine assists. Those numbers were enough to help Inter Miami reach the MLS playoffs. 

In the playoffs, Messi was at his brilliant best as Inter Miami won the MLS Cup. The former Barcelona captain scored six goals and provided seven assists to help the Herons become MLS champions for the very first time since the club was formed. 

While these performances were from last season, Messi has continued in the same vein this year, with the MLS regular season currently underway. 

The 39-year-old has played 22 games for the Miami-based club in the MLS this year, scoring a whopping 19 goals and providing a remarkable 12 assists. At 39, he is showing no signs of slowing down, and he is still the best player in the league. 

While his critics will argue that the MLS is not a top-level league, Messi showed that he is still capable of producing on the biggest stage after another remarkable World Cup campaign. 

The 39-year-old was arguably the best player in North America this summer as he led Argentina to another World Cup final. 

He scored in all but two of La Albiceleste’s games and also went toe-to-toe with Kylian Mbappe in the Golden Boot race, although the Frenchman eventually edged it by the two goals he scored in the third-place match against England. 

His performance at this summer’s World Cup was one of the best displays from any player in the competition’s history, let alone a 39-year-old.

Considering World Cup performances always have a big say in who wins the award, it will be hard to argue against Messi’s case. 

Although it could be argued that one of Spain's players should have won it, La Roja never had a player who performed at Messi’s level. Lamine Yamal would have been the obvious choice after a fantastic season with Barcelona, but the 19-year-old had an average World Cup campaign. 

In contrast, Messi had a great World Cup campaign, in addition to a great year with Inter Miami, which saw him become MLS Champion. 

Taking these things into account, the 39-year-old indeed should be in line to win his ninth Ballon d’Or title. 

Yes, Messi had a brilliant year for both club and country, and that should make him a frontrunner for the award. 

However, while Messi had a brilliant campaign, so did Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane, who are the other frontrunners. 

Mbappe might not have won anything with Real Madrid last year, but he did finish as the top scorer in LaLiga and the Champions League with 31 goals and 15 goals, respectively. 

He also had an equally impressive World Cup campaign, winning the Golden Boot and going top of the all-time World Cup top scorer list. 

Kane, meanwhile, also had an impressive year for both club and country and has a stronger case. The England international won the Bundesliga with Bayern and also ended the season as the top scorer with 36 goals in 31 appearances. 

The 33-year-old also scored 14 goals in the Champions League as Bayern reached the semifinal, losing to eventual champions Paris Saint-Germain. 

Kane also helped Bayern to a domestic double, as his ten goals helped Bayern win the German Cup. Ideally, this should be enough to give Kane the award, but he took it further to the international stage, where he scored another six goals to help England finish third at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. 

Looking at Kane and Mbappe’s numbers, it will be hard to argue Messi’s case over them. Not only did they have a better season at club level in a high-quality league, but they also had great World Cup campaigns, which is always a factor in this award conversation.