Messi doesn't know when he'll retire (2024)

• Lionel Messi wins Ballon d’Or for record eighth time
• Aitana Bonmati wins Ballon d'Or Feminin
• Jude Bellingham wins Kopa trophy for best young player
• Vinicius Jr wins Socrates award; Emiliano Martinez best men’s goalkeeper
• Barcelona win women’s club award, Manchester City win men’s
• Erling Haaland wins Gerd Muller Trophy for best goal scorer

Here are the thoughts of reader Bhavesh S:

💬 "Nobody likes runaway repeat winners. We all want variety and nail-biting action. But to not recognize the magnitude of what Messi has achieved by winning a World Cup in his twilight years would be a failure of the beautiful game."

No more than a few hours passed from the time the private jet landed in Barcelona on a mid-September afternoon in 2019 to the time it took off again, bound for Paris.

The plane descended onto the tarmac and went straight into a van headed for a hotel, where they were whisked through a side door and ascended a private access stairwell to a suite. A few minutes later, Jorge Messi, the father of Lionel Messi, entered the room.

Around a large table that day began a courtship that led to the biggest signing in Major League Soccer history. On June 7, 2023 — 1,364 days after that first meeting — Mas was sitting at his desk in his office in Coral Gables, Fla., when he got the call with the news: Lionel Messi, seen as many as the best soccer player of all time, was coming to Miami.

Here, The Athletic details:

• Why Messi chose Miami over Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia
• How the courtship culminated in an announcement from Messi that, despite months of planning, caught many by surprise
• Why Miami have given Messi equity in the club as part of his deal
• Mas’ seat in Messi’s box at the World Cup final
• The talks that brought Apple to the table, with Messi offered a share of new international subscribers
• How Messi’s deal is structured to make him the highest-paid player in MLS history, and how corporate partners played a role in the negotiations.

Before he announced that Lionel Messi had won the Ballon d'Or, David Beckham gave a moving tribute to the late Manchester United legend and World Cup winner Sir Bobby Charlton.

"He was respected on the pitch and even more so off the pitch for what he stood for," the fellow former United player said. "He's going to be missed. When we looked into the stands we'd always see him there.

"On a personal side, he started everything for me. I went to his soccer school when I was 10 years old. Without him telling Manchester United to look out for me, I might never have played for them.

"My middle name is Robert after him."

After Lionel Messi won the Ballon d'Or, former runner-up and Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham said: "It's very special to say he's a Miami player and he's in our city. He'll celebrate this with his team-mates and his family in his way. We'll do our best to celebrate it in the Miami way. I'm sure we can do a good party."

Can the greatest player in the history of football do what others could not and bring lasting change to the American sporting landscape?

The Athletic's John Muller travelled to Florida and beyond to find out. Read about his journey at the link below.

Lionel Messi is now three wins clear of second-place Cristiano Ronaldo atop the list of most Ballons d'Or won:

• Lionel Messi: 8
• Cristiano Ronaldo: 5
• Michel Platini: 3
• Johan Cruyff: 3
• Marco van Basten: 3

Ronaldo last won the award in 2017.

Africa had four Ballon d'Or nominees this year: Andre Onana (Cameroon) finished 23rd, Yassine Bounou (Morocco) was 13th, Mohamed Salah (Egypt) came in at 11th, and Victor Osimhen (Nigeria) topped their representatives at eighth.

Liberia's George Weah remains the continent's sole winner. He took the prize in 1995, the same year the award's eligibility expanded to include not just Europeans but those of any nationality playing at European clubs. The eligibility expanded further in 2007 to include all footballers around the globe.

Since 1995, Senegal's Sadio Mane has come the closest for Africa, finishing second last year.

Lionel Messi spoke on stage after winning his eighth Ballon d'Or: "Thank you very much, to share this with my national team-mates for what we were able to achieve with the national team. The entire group, the coaching staff, everyone involved. I’m delighted to be here once more to be able to enjoy this moment one more time.

"To be able to win the World Cup and really achieve my dream, to share this with all those who were involved. I couldn't imagine having the career I've had and everything I've achieved, the fortune I've had to be part of the best team in history."

He finished by wishing the late Diego Maradona a happy birthday.

Sometimes you don’t need to overcomplicate things: Erling Haaland made 53 appearances for Manchester City last season and scored 52 goals in all competitions. That, as any maths whizz will tell you, is nearly a goal in every single game. Which is a lot.

He was top scorer in the 2022-23 Premier League with 36, the highest individual tally in a single season in that competition. It made runner-up Harry Kane’s 30 for Tottenham look ordinary.

Haaland was also top scorer in the Champions League with 12 goals in 11 games. Since making his Champions League debut in 2019, he has 37 goals in 33 games.

He’s never been sent off in his seven-year senior career and, while this might not be directly related to fair play, that clip where he did an impression of John Stones’ Yorkshire accent was dripping with class.

“I think playing at PSG doesn’t help a lot,” Kylian Mbappe said in an interview with L’Equipe and France Football in July.

Every year the France striker seems set to leave for Real Madrid but then remains tethered to a Paris Saint-Germain project that, for all the millions invested, still seems a long way from taking the final step at European level, by making them Champions League winners.

The same protagonist said months before that he “fulfilled all the requirements” to compete for the Ballon d’Or with Messi or Haaland. Based on his 2022-23 output, he has a point.

Keep those emails coming! Send us your reaction to Lionel Messi's Ballon d'Or win at [emailprotected]

Here are the thoughts of reader Hari G:

💬 "It was rather inevitable that Messi would win it because beyond footballing achievement, he is just the media’s darling. Since Novak Djokovic was in attendance, I’d draw a parallel by saying that if a similar award had existed for tennis, Djokovic would have won far fewer than the better loved Federer and Nadal, despite his better performance in several years.

"You can’t say he didn’t deserve it at all, but Haaland did much better in club football, while Mbappe did better at club football and at least matched Messi at the World Cup. In sum, it’s nice that they gave him a final award and hopefully this will be the last award distorted by the irrational Messi popularity effect. Maybe other players will get recognized from here on out!"

Lionel Messi has wasted little time in making an impact at Inter Miami, the third club he has played for in his illustrious career.

The deal taking him to Miami, after his Paris Saint-Germain contract expired, was only finalised on July 15. The World Cup winner has already added the Leagues Cup to his trophy cabinet, scoring 10 goals in seven games to fire his new club to their first piece of silverware.

For Messi, it is major trophy number 44. Despite turning 36 in June, he is as influential as ever.

Here is the complete story of Lionel Andres Messi, widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers in the history of the sport, as told by 30 of our award-winning team of reporters, from Adam Crafton to Oliver Kay, from Michael Cox to John Muller, as well as many, many more.

Here are the thoughts of reader Trevor P:

💬 "Messi was, as usual, consistently excellent when fit, regardless of circ*mstances and he finally dragged an otherwise pedestrian Argentinian team to the World Cup against all the odds in what was arguably the most complete individual performance the tournament has ever seen (or at least comparable with Maradona’s run in 1986 against lesser competition).

"Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, Messi had a profound and varied impact on games whereas Haaland really is limited to finishing things off in the final third which is a fundamental and major difference between them even at their respective ages. Haaland may have his time in the coming years but what we saw this year from Messi was something that we are unlikely to see again in our lifetime and the idea that he wouldn’t get this Ballon d'Or merely because someone got a lot of goals in a runaway title campaign seems slightly unserious."

It feels like a long time ago that people were arriving on the red carpet at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris. And it was! But it's still worth remembering some of what was said.

Especially when you can paraphrase Ilkay Gundogan...

The Ballon d'Or shows how successful you are as a team. The only way to win it is when you're successful as a club or a country. That is why football is a team sport.

Those Argentina team-mates can be happy with the part they have played in a defining chapter of the Lionel Messi story. As good as anyone we have seen - and he's not quite done yet.

It's only when you get to things like the Ballon d'Or ceremony that you realise how such finely balanced moments can shape careers, reputations and even more.

Would there have been so much change around the Spanish women's team without their World Cup victory in Australia? Would it have been a Lioness to have lifted the Ballon d'Or Feminin, with much less importance surrounding the words uttered than how Aitana Bonmati had to carry herself?

Would the opposite outcome of a penalty shootout in Qatar have deprived Lionel Messi of a historic eighth Ballon d'Or? Maybe 54-goal Kylian Mbappe would have become a new name on the list; or Erling Haaland as one of its youngest.

It has been a great night to celebrate so much success from so many, as well as to appreciate the context of what earned it and those that strove just as hard and missed out.

And the best bit is we can do it all over again in 12 months time.

Lionel Messi was joined by his sons during his speech after winning the Ballon d'Or.

Might there be a future winner here? Be sure to tune in to the 2037 ceremony to find out!