There is no doubt that 2024 was a strong year for Lionel Messi who continued to show his class at domestic and international level.
Messi won his first MLS MVP award and also helped Inter Miami to secure their first Supporters Shield.
Alongside that he also finished as the club’s joint top goalscorer in the MLS with teammate Luis Suarez, both securing 20 goals to their name.
Messi certainly enjoyed some great moments in 2024, but 2025 perhaps hasn’t started exactly how he had planned.
Messi misses out on King of America award
The Argentine is often high on the agenda when it comes to receiving award nominations across the soccer globe but the back end of 2024 saw him nominated for something he has yet to win.
Messi holds the record for the most Ballon d’Or wins with eight, and has won countless other personal awards across his career.
Despite still being at the peak of his powers, Messi failed to retain his FIFA The Best award for a third year running and has now missed out on the King of America award.
The King of America award is given to the best player for the year across the American leagues and if Messi had won he would have become the first MLS player in history to receive the honor.
Sadly for the Inter Miami man, he finished joint-last in the voting alongside Penarol’s Leonardo Fernandez Lopez with just 14 votes.
The award went to midfielder Luis Enrique Andre of Botafogo, who garnered 128 out of a possible 244 votes.
The votes:
- Luis Enrique Andre (Botafogo) – 128 votes
- Jefferson Savarino (Botafogo) – 25 votes
- Juan Quintero (Racing Avellaneda) – 17 votes
- Thiago Almada (Botafogo) – 15 votes
- Lionel Messi (Inter Miami) – 14 votes
- Leonardo Fernandez Lopez (Penarol) – 14 votes
Messi looking for strong start to 2025
While many players would be happy with a 2024 that was as strong as Messi’s the Argentine is always striving for more, that’s probably why his fellow soccer colleagues are such big fans.
US international Christian Pulisic hailed Messi as the ‘best player in the world’, Chelsea’s Cole Palmer also recently revealed the same.
Despite the praise, Messi was unhappy with how the 2024 season went and promised fans he and the club would ‘be back stronger’ for this season.
The Herons, under new manager Javier Mascherano, get their first pre-season game underway on January 18th against Mexican side Club America.