All you need to know about the prestigious award that Lionel Messi has never won in his illustrious career

Lionel Messi has never won the presitigious "Golden foot" award even though being eligible for 7 years in a row.

All you need to know about the prestigious award that Lionel Messi has never won in his illustrious career

Lionel Messi is currently on cloud 9 with his latest triumph being winning the World Cup with Argentina after a dramatic final against France in which he scored twice. This adds Messi to the list of footballing greats like Rolandinho and Kaka who have won every major individual and team honours. However, there is still one accolade that the diminutive Argentine has not won which his adversaries like Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan have been awarded with.

The Golden Foot has been awarded for 20 years, and a long list of football greats have been among the former winners, but one name is still absent from the list. The award is only handed out once and to be eligible to win it, you must be at least 28 years old. It is presented to the best player of the calendar year chosen by journalists. Messi has now been eligible for seven years running without winning the award.

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Barcelona’s Lewandowski who has 18 goals and four assists in 19 games this season is the winner this year. Of course, he had a successful half-year with Bayern Munich prior to his summer move to the Nou Camp. 34-year-old Lewandowski has long been one of the most prolific strikers in world football with 527 career goals to his name. He joins a list of incredible players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to win the award.

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With rumours of a contract extension in the process, Messi will most likely still be at PSG and be in the running for the award next year. The Argentine has had a fantastic start to the season for both club and country. After finally settling in Paris, he has formed a lethal front three with Kylian Mbappe and Neymar. He has 42-goal involvement in 29 games just season and won the 2022 FIFA World Cup’s Golden ball award.

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With Lionel Messi being the frontrunner, who have won the Golden foot in the past?

Golden Foot winners in the past

The Golden foot award was first handed out in 2003 to football players for their outstanding performance in the calendar year. The criteria were the player should at least be 28 years old and could win the award only once in his career thus having a new winner every year. The ceremony is held in Monte Carlo in Monaco and has fundraising for fight against AIDS.

The inaugural award was won by Brescia’s Robert Baggio in 2003. Since then superstars such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan, Nedved, Mo Salah, Buffon and Casillas was won the accolade. Juventus has the most winners of Golden foot with 4 players winning while being contracted with the Biacconeri.

Cristiano won during his time at Juventus in 2020. Country-wise, Italy stands at the pinnacle with 4 Italians winning the Golden foot. It includes Buffon, Del Piero, Totti and Roberto Baggio.

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