Lionel Messi is officially Major League Soccer’s most valuable player.
The Argentine legend — considered the greatest soccer player of all time by many — was named the 2024 MLS MVP on Friday on the eve of MLS Cup, the American/Canadian top flight’s championship match.
Messi and his star-studded Inter Miami squad were upset in the first round of the playoffs, but the 37-year-old World Cup winner led Miami to the highest point total in MLS’s 29 seasons this year. Despite missing three months of the campaign because of his national team commitments and the ankle injury he suffered in July’s Copa América final that the Albiceleste went on to win without him, Messi scored 20 goals in 19 regular season appearances for the Herons — just 15 of them starts. He had two goals in three postseason matches in a losing effort against Atlanta United.
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This was Messi’s first full season in MLS after arriving midway through the 2023 campaign — about six months after captaining Argentina to the 2022 World Cup title and cementing his legacy as the GOAT. He immediately led Miami to the inaugural Leagues Cup trophy, a competition featuring every team in MLS and Liga MX, Mexico’s first division. But Messi missed most of the stretch run of the domestic season because of injuries as the Herons, which had gotten off to a terrible start without him, missed the playoffs altogether. Messi still took home his record eighth Ballon d’Or award at year’s end.
Messi spent the first two decades of his professional career in Europe, leaving his hometown of Rosario, Argentina to join La Masia, Barcelona’s famous youth academy. He went on to score almost 700 goals for Barça, leading them to 10 Spanish and four UEFA Champions League titles before leaving for France in 2021.
On Thursday, at the draw for next year’s expanded 32-team FIFA Club World Cup in the United States, Messi and Inter Miami were drawn into a group with Palmeiras of Brazil, Porto of Portugal) and Egyptian side Al Ahly. The Herons will open the competition against Al Ahly on June 15. Messi is under contract with Miami until the end of 2025, but is expected to extend his stay through the 2026 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the U.S. along with Canada and Mexico.
The LA Galaxy and New York Red Bulls will vie for the 2024 MLS Cup on Saturday in Carson, California. The 2025 season kicks off in February.
Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports. A staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him @ByDougMcIntyre.
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