In the summer of 2023, superstar Lionel Messi left Europe and moved to the US to play for Inter Miami. Because of this, many fans and Messi himself believe that the 2023 Golden Ball will be the last time the Argentine superstar wins this title.
However, as the 2023-2024 season is coming to an end, Messi is still a candidate for the 2024 Golden Ball. Goal rates Messi ranked 16th in the list of candidates. Score90 ranked superstar Messi in 10th place with a 3% chance of winning, only 1% less than Rodri or Erling Haaland.
Thus, it is not impossible for Messi to shock with the 9th Golden Ball of his career.
Messi won 8 Golden Balls in his career
Messi’s advantage
Memorable mark and historic championship in the US
When Messi joined, Inter Miami was just a broken team with a series of consecutive losses and ranked last in the American Professional League (MLS). However, with the inspiration named Messi, Inter Miami created a miracle with the League Cup championship. The 2022 World Cup champion himself also impressed with 10 goals in the first 10 matches.
This season, Messi also started like a dream for Inter Miami. After 9 matches in MLS this season, the 36-year-old striker has scored 10 goals and provided 9 assists.
Messi and Inter Miami won the League Cup last August
The decline of candidates
Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane have been the brightest candidates for the Golden Ball title for many months.
However, these name settings all have certain problems. Harry Kane scored with a performance of more than 1 goal/match but was left empty-handed with Bayern. Mbappe also could not help PSG reach the C1 final. Bellingham is out of form with only 1 goal since February. Haaland is missing in big matches.
Because no real name has emerged, opportunities still exist for the remaining candidates, including Messi.
Credibility for Messi
If Messi makes it to the list of 30 nominees for the Golden Ball title, he could create a surprise. Many fans must still be surprised because Messi won The Best 2023 even though this award does not count his achievement of winning the 2022 World Cup.
According to the revelation, Messi is the best name of all time in the eyes of many journalists, players and coaches. Therefore, these people tend to lean towards Messi in their votes. Of course, the Golden Ball has a different voting format than The Best. However, Messi’s advantage over other young names of his time cannot be denied.
Dream scenario for Messi to win the 2024 Golden Ball
As mentioned, Messi is still not in the leading group of candidates. Therefore, to create a surprise, the Argentine superstar needs to have a perfect campaign until the end of July.
First, the 36-year-old superstar needs to continue to maintain his impressive streak of performance in the Inter Miami shirt. More importantly, Messi needs to shine to help Argentina successfully defend the championship title at Copa America.
Messi and Argentina won Copa America 2021
Another important condition is that top candidates like Bellingham, Kane, Mbappe or Vinicius Jr. must have an unsatisfactory campaign in Euro/Copa America.
The 2024 Golden Ball is said to consider the players’ performances during the period August 1, 2023 to July 31, 2024. If nothing changes, the results will be based on the votes of 100 journalists, representing 100 member federations in FIFA’s Top 100.
