After winning the World Cup, it is safe to say that Lionel Messi has achieved all there is in the football realm, and with that, he can comfortably wear the crown of the Greatest of All Time (GOAT).

The debate about who is the GOAT between Argentine Lionel Messi and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo lasted for over a decade and was put to rest when Messi won the World Cup, which also led to him bagging his seventh Ballon D’Or, two more than Ronaldo.

However, the 36-year-old’s trophy cabinet isn’t quite full yet, as there is a trophy lacking: an award which Ronaldo has and Messi does not.

This accolade, the Golden Foot, is normally awarded to older footballers, recognizing their impressive performances in the latter stages of their careers, and only footballers over the age of 28 are eligible. Most of its recipients were in their 30s when they got it.

One would be forgiven for thinking that despite having the requisite qualifications, Lionel Messi would have already bagged this one.

The Golden Foot Award was created in the early 2000s, and the first recipient was Roberto Baggio, who received it in 2003 while playing for Brescia.

Unlike other football awards, the Golden Foot can only be awarded once and the winner is chosen by a panel of journalists chosen from a list of nominees.

Cristiano won the award in 2020.

However, Messi still has time to win the award his performances for Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain should have been enough to earn him the award at one time or another, but he’s been overlooked for the likes of Ronaldo, Edinson Cavani and Luka Modric.

He’s 36 years old now but has still shown over the past few years, and especially during the 2022 World Cup, that he’s still one of the best footballers on the planet.

Now at Inter Miami, there’s a very strong chance that Messi will win the Golden Foot over the next couple of years as he helps transform football’s popularity in the United States at Inter Miami. If he doesn’t, then it will go down as one of the only awards in football to have alluded to him.

List of Golden Foot award winners

Year                                             Player                        Team

2003                                       Roberto Baggio               Brescia

2004                                           Pavel Nedved                    Juventus

2005                                      Andriy Shevchenko                    AC Milan

2006                                     Ronaldo                                     Real Madrid

2007                      Alessandro Del Piero                         Juventus

2008                 Roberto Carlos                            Fenerbahce

2009                     Ronaldinho                       AC Milan

2010                       Francesco Totti                           Roma

2011                              Ryan Giggs                      Manchester United

2012                     Zlatan Ibrahimovic                     Paris Saint-Germain

2013                           Didier Drogba                  Galatasaray

2014                  Andres Iniesta                              Barcelona

2015                        Samuel Eto’o                 Antalyaspor

2016                      Gianluigi Buffon                  Juventus

2017         Iker Casillas                  Porto

2018            Edinson Cavani                   Paris Saint-Germain

2019                 Luka Modric                  Real Madrid

2020             Cristiano Ronaldo                 Juventus

2021                    Mohamed Salah                 Liverpool

2022                    Robert Lewandowski                 Barcelona

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