Ballon d'Or trophies of Messi

Lionel Messi has long been recognized by all as the greatest footballer ever to take the field, and it is unlikely that in the near future there will be a worthy replacement for him. All his achievements are invariably celebrated, as evidenced by the countless Ballon d’Or awards in the footballer’s collection.

The connection between the Ballon d’Or and Messi

Golden Ball – this award, which is worthy of not all famous footballers, to get it, you need to have the highest individual achievements on the playing field and not once prove that professionalism is in his blood. Not for nothing Messi was repeatedly honored with this award, and to date the number of his “golden balls” can go down in history. The Argentine is a legend of Barcelona, and now he started playing in the United States for Inter Miami, where he started brilliantly and from the first match he declared that he intends to be the one to take the “golden ball” again. Such a statement allowed him to win his first World Cup with the Argentine national team. It was the one that gave Messi every chance of taking the award again. But to understand why it is so important for him to become a nominee for this award again, let’s take a closer look at the essence of the “Golden Ball”.

The history of the award

“Golden Ball” – an award that is annually given to the best soccer player based on the results of the previous season. France Football are known as the creators of the award and the organizers of the competition itself, and they also claim to have nothing to do with the FIFA awards. The award itself started a very long time ago, in 1956, and initially the voting for it was entrusted to journalists, and it was only since 2007 that players from those countries in the top 100 according to Fifa were given the opportunity to vote. This is why the award is so important, it was only able to gain prestige when fellow professionals and peers started voting for it.

How many ‘golden balls’ does Messiah have in his collection?

And now let’s return to the owner of a considerable number of “Golden Balls”, namely Messi. On the account of the footballer 7 awards received in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019 and 2021.

This number of awards for one player is the first and maximum in history, not even his main rival on the pitch can boast such a number, Cristiano Ronaldo has only five. The pair shared the award from 2008 to 2017, demonstrating their dominance in elite men’s soccer. However, Ronaldo has not competed in recent years and will not compete this year following his lucrative move to Saudi Arabia, where he will play for Al Nasr’s team.

Will Messi’s collection be enriched?

For many, the question of Messi winning an eighth Ballon d’Or remains an undeniable fact, but there is a new contender on the horizon – Manchester City goal machine Erling Haaland. This striker has scored 52 goals from 53 games played and recently won the league title. Haaland has scored 36 goals in the Premier League and 12 times in the Champions League, including five goals in a 7-0 rout of RB Leipzig. There are other players like Rodri and Kylian Mbappe, but it will likely be Messi vs. Haaland.