FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Most Valuable Player. the best team. Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi is currently an undeniable force in Major League Soccer, continuing to make strides like no one in the league has ever seen.
The 38-year-old Argentine star — He is also the captain of the MLS Cup champions. — the first back-to-back MVP in MLS history, was announced Tuesday as this year’s winner of the league’s highest individual honor.
Messi accepted the trophy at the opening ceremony of the Messi Cup youth tournament, which began on Tuesday, thanking his teammates and saying he could not have won the award without them. As a result, the award presentation was postponed until the end of the season. Messi wanted his children to participate as well.
“He’s a unicorn. It’s not just what he does on the field,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said Tuesday after an on-field ceremony in foggy weather. “He’s just a special person.”
AP Audio: Messi. I repeat, Messi. Inter Miami star becomes first MLS player to win back-to-back MVP awards
One of the world’s biggest soccer stars has broken records in America’s top league. Reported by correspondent Gethin Coolbaugh.
Messi’s back-to-back MVP awards, another first in a never-ending list of career accomplishments, were widely anticipated and almost expected after Messi won the award. 29 goals, the most in the league He recorded 19 assists in the regular season.
He also becomes the second second-time MVP winner in league history, joining Pleki, who won the award in 1997 and 2003. All other winners are one-time MVP winners.
“He’s been great all season, both in numbers and in his dedication,” Inter Miami coach and longtime Messi teammate Javier Mascherano said after Saturday’s MLS final.
Messi appeared in just half of Inter Miami’s regular season games in 2024, which raised questions about whether he deserved to win the MVP award.
he won with a narrow vote last year. There was no discussion this year.
Messi received 70.4% of the total votes, the most since Sebastian Giovinco of Toronto in 2015. San Diego’s Anders Dreyer was second with 11.2%, followed by LAFC’s Dennis Bouanga (7.3%), Cincinnati’s Evander (4.8%) and Nashville’s Sam Surridge (2.4%).
“There’s something about the way he’s wired,” Garber said of Messi while watching an Inter Miami game earlier this season in the playoffs. “He thinks about the game like no one else has ever done. His strength and desire to win makes him the greatest of all time. There are a lot of players who are really competitive, but he has that special sauce, this dynamic that makes him focus on doing what it takes to win games.”
The award joins dozens of individual accolades in Messi’s career, including eight Ballon d’Or titles, eight Pichichi Trophies as La Liga top scorer, six La Liga Best Player awards, three FIFA Best Men’s Player awards, three UEFA Player of the Year awards, two FIFA World Cup Golden Ball awards, and more than 15 selections as Argentina’s Player of the Year. He has also helped win 47 trophies for club and country, including the 2022 World Cup, making him the most decorated player ever in the men’s game.
“The reality is that Leo has cleared all the doubts,” Mascherano said near the end of the regular season.
Messi becomes the sixth player in MLS history to win MVP and championship in the same season. Of the previous five players, only Atlanta United’s Josef Martinez in 2018 has won MVP, the title and the league’s top scorer Golden Boot award all in the same year, something like Messi’s hat trick in 2025.
Indeed, there was definitely no one like him in MLS, and probably nowhere.
Forget about winning back-to-back MVPs. Only four players in MLS history have won the award in one year and even been an MVP finalist the following season: Carlos Valderrama in 1996 and 1997, Marco Etcheverry in 1998 and 1999, David Villa in 2016 and 2017, and Martinez in 2018 and 2019.
And Messi has no plans to leave Miami anytime soon. he signed a three-year contract extension That means he’s there for the Inter Miami franchise, whose value has exploded since he arrived two-and-a-half years ago. open a new stadium Next season will be near Miami International Airport.
“Leo is a winner, it’s that simple,” Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham said. “And I know it sounds easy and obvious given what he’s won. There’s probably no player who’s won what he’s won and done it the way he did. What makes him great is on the field. “I think everyone in Miami, everyone around MLS, has seen what he’s done for this league, this city and this country. But he continues to raise his level and that’s what great players do.”
The phenomenon of back-to-back MVPs has occurred multiple times in the past in other major U.S. professional sports leagues, with each of the most recent examples occurring fairly recently.
In Major League Baseball, Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees have won the National League and American League MVP awards in each of the past two seasons. Ohtani also won the AL MVP award in 2023 with the Los Angeles Angels.
Las Vegas Aces’ A’ja Wilson has won the WNBA MVP award in each of the past two years. Denver’s Nikola Jokic was the most recent NBA player to win back-to-back MVP awards in 2021 and 2022. Aaron Rodgers (then of Green Bay) won back-to-back NFL MVP awards in 2020 and 2021, and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin won the NHL’s Hart Trophy in 2008 and 2009, as someone recently claimed. Awarded for consecutive years.
But he was never in MLS — until now.
“Great players always believe they can win more and raise the level,” Beckham said. “And that’s what Leo does.”
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